Freedom for Boualem Sansal: Writer, thinker, and bearer of the torches of light

Considering Sansal's prior stances against the Algerian regime, along with his pro-Israel views and his visit to Israel in 2014, the "recipe" for his persecution was complete.

By MOHAMED SAAD KHIRALLA NOVEMBER 27, 2024 12:01

Algerian writer Boualem Sansal poses after being awarded, jointly with French writer Hedi Kaddour, the Grand Prix du Roman, a literary prize awarded by the Academie Francaise for an individual novel, at the Academie Francaise in Paris on October 29, 2015. (photo credit: FRANCOIS GUILLOT/AFP via Getty Images)

Boualem Sansal, a prominent Franco-Algerian writer and thinker, has gone missing. At the time of writing this article, the public knows nothing about his whereabouts or condition. According to the newspapers Le Monde and Marianne, the Algerian authorities announced his arrest upon his arrival from France at the Algiers International Airport. However, no date or additional details about the arrest were disclosed, raising questions about his fate and reopening tensions between Algeria and France.

This is especially worrisome coming after a spokesperson for Élysée Palace stated, "The president is deeply concerned and closely monitoring the situation," adding that he believes this great writer and thinker deserves to enjoy his freedom."

How did Sansal dare travel to Algeria at all, given his recent statements? He had told the French newspaper Frontière that there were lands taken by France from the Kingdom of Morocco during the colonial period and annexed to Algeria, referring to what is known as the "Eastern Sahara."

French writer Nicolas Mathieu spoke of a "trap" set for the prominent thinker. Recent events seem to support this theory. Sansal's remarks were seen as the ultimate crime from the perspective of Algeria's authoritarian military regime.

Considering Sansal's prior stances against the regime and Islamist groups—whom the Algerian regime has courted since the terrorist events of October 7, 2023—along with his pro-Israel views and his visit to Israel in 2014, the "recipe" for his persecution was complete. This aligns with the regime he once described in an interview with Marianne as one where "everything in Algeria is tightly sealed."

Algerian writer Sansal Boualem poses on August 17, 2015. (credit: FAROUK BATICHE/AFP via Getty Images)

Sansal was born in Tissemsilt in northern Algeria. Before becoming a novelist, he worked as a teacher, consultant, entrepreneur, and senior official in the Ministry of Industry (from which he was dismissed). He graduated as an engineer from Algeria's National Polytechnic School and the École supérieure des télécommunications in Paris and holds a doctorate in economics.

He began writing in 1997 and has published several novels, including The Barbarians’ Promise, Madman of the Empty Tree, Tell Me About Heaven, Burnt Shadows, The German Village, and Darwin Street. His works tackle sensitive issues such as Islamic extremism, the Algerian Civil War (known as the Black Decade, from 1992-2002), and the country's political system—topics that cross redlines in a nation ranked among the lowest globally in freedom of expression, according to a 2024 report by Article 19, an organization dedicated to this freedom worldwide.

Prominent voices call for Sansal's release

Prominent voices have called for Sansal's immediate release, including French-Moroccan writer Tahar Ben Jelloun, who urged for his "liberation," and Yasmina Khadra, who told AFP, "His arrest troubles me. Intellectuals belong at round tables discussing ideas, not in prisons."

A significant step was the mobilization of several Nobel laureates in literature to support Sansal, including Annie Ernaux, Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clézio, Orhan Pamuk and Wole Soyinka, as well as Salman Rushdie and Peter Sloterdijk. They signed a statement penned by recent Goncourt Prize winner Kamel Daoud advocating for Sansal's release.

Part of the statement, titled To the Defenders of Freedom, reads, "Today, I speak to you with profound concern. My friend, the Algerian writer Boualem Sansal, was arrested on Saturday, November 16. This tragic news reflects a horrifying reality in Algeria, where freedom of expression is a mere memory amid repression, imprisonment, and mass surveillance.

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“From now on, anything is possible: life imprisonment for a text message or jail for a sigh of discomfort,” the statement said. “Sansal resembles a prophet from ancient scriptures, smiling as he provokes emotions, friendships, and the hatred of the submissive and envious. He writes about the storms and harsh lights of our era, enjoying life and the animosity of others.

“He harms no one, kills no one, and imprisons no one,” it said. “His innocence, in the face of dictatorship, led him to overlook the danger. He neglected the herd awaiting him and returned to his homeland that Saturday, paying a heavy price for it."

Numerous international human rights organizations, freedom of expression advocates, and writers' and journalists' associations have joined the cause, turning Sansal's arrest into a global issue that increases pressure on the Algerian regime.

This pressure will hopefully succeed in freeing this brave, free thinker, who is one of the most prominent advocates of peace, from the grip of the jailer.

The writer is a political analyst specializing in Middle East affairs and Islamic movements, an opinion writer and a member of the Swedish PEN Association. He lives in Lund, Sweden.