Algerian court sentences writer Sansal to five years in jail

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00:00Boelem Sansel has been in Algerian detention for four months.

00:04Now an Algerian court has ordered the writer to five years behind bars for undermining

00:09the country's territorial integrity.

00:11A decision that has outraged his editor.

00:16For us, Boelem is innocent and we hope and fight for the freedom of expression and freedom

00:20in general to be respected.

00:24The 80-year-old Franco-Algerian, who is suffering from cancer, has received an outpouring of

00:29support from fellow writers and free speech advocates since his arrest in November.

00:36The charge against Sansel is linked to comments he made in a right-wing French media outlet

00:41when he suggested that large parts of Morocco had been carved up under French colonial rule

00:46to the benefit of Algeria.

00:48The statement, which echoed a long-standing Moroccan claim and is now recognised by France,

00:54was viewed by Algeria as an affront to its national sovereignty.

00:58Sansel's arrest in Algiers only exacerbated bilateral tensions.

01:03In an attempt to ease the situation last week, the French president appealed to his Algerian

01:08counterpart.

01:09I trust President Tabun and his clear-sightedness to know that all this is not serious and that

01:15we're dealing with a great writer who, what's more, is ill.

01:18So I think he needs to regain his freedom and his ability to seek treatment.

01:24Last weekend, the Algerian president extended his own olive branch, saying in an interview

01:29that Macron was the only point of reference for mending frayed ties.

01:34The 10-year prison sentence initially sought by Algerian prosecutors for the novelist has

01:39been reduced to five.

01:41Sansel's lawyer has now set his hopes on a presidential pardon for his ill client, writing

01:47where justice has failed, let humanity at least prevail.

01:51On Thursday, Macron repeated that call, asking Algerian authorities to free Sansel on humanitarian

01:57grounds.

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