Algeria Blasts European Parliament for Condemning a French-Algerian Author’s Arrest

Algerian author Boualem Sansal, a member of the Jury, at the press conference speaks during the 62 edition of International Film Festival Berlinale, in Berlin Thursday, Feb. 9, 2012. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber, File)

9:30 AM EST, January 28, 2025

ALGIERS, Algeria (AP) — Algerian lawmakers condemned the European Parliament for a resolution criticizing the arrest of French-Algerian novelist Boualem Sansal.

Lawmakers from both chambers of the North African nation’s parliament on Monday signed a statement rebuking the European Parliament’s resolution for “misleading allegations with the sole aim of launching a blatant attack against Algeria.”

Since his Nov. 16 arrest, Sansal’s cause has been taken up by European writers, artists and politicians, particularly those on the French right sympathetic to his criticism of Islam.

Sansal has been charged with violating an anti-terrorism statute that rights groups say Algeria uses to target activists and dissidents and quiet criticism of the government. The 76-year-old is among several imprisoned writers mentioned in the European Parliament’s resolution last week, which also references journalist Abdelwakil Blamm and poet Mohamed Tadjadit.

Algerian lawmakers accused the European Parliament of political inference and cast doubt on whether their motivations had to do with Sansal’s well-being or “harming the image of Algeria.”

The back-and-forth mirrors similar spats between Europe and nations that were once colonized by some members of the 27-nation bloc and see such criticism as paternalistic. In 2023, Moroccan lawmakers blasted the European Parliament for passing a resolution that implored Morocco to respect press freedoms and grant fair trials to three imprisoned journalists.

The clash over the resolution is the latest rupture between Algeria and France. The countries have for nearly a year sparred over immigration and repatriation issues, the disputed Western Sahara and the legacy of French nuclear testing in Algeria’s Sahara Desert, which lawmakers passed a resolution addressing last week.