At the request of German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, Algerian President Abdal Majid Tabbún pardoned the French-Algerian writer Boualám Sansal. the office of the president in Algiers informed. TASR writes about it according to Reuters and AFP reports.
Algerian authorities detained Sansal a year ago and in March a court sentenced him to five years in prison for undermining national unity. French President Emmanuel Macron spoke on the phone with the German president on Wednesday, to whom he expressed “deep gratitude” for the successful effort to pardon Sansal in Algeria. He also thanked the Algerian president, writes AFP.
“I appreciate this gesture of humanity from President Tabbún and I thank him for it,” Macron said. He added that he is “ready to discuss all issues of interest” with Algeria. both countries. Seventy-six-year-old Sansál also has French citizenship since last year and has been criticizing the Algerian government for a long time. He denied the accusations against himself, saying that he never intended to insult Algeria or its institutions.
According to a statement from the Algerian president’s office, Tabbún responded positively to Steinmeier’s request, calling it “remarkable for its human dimension and motive.” In the past, Tabbún called Sansál a “fraudster”. The statement from Tabbún’s office further states that Germany will take care of Sansál’s transportation and medical care. According to French media, the writer has cancer.
The reasons for Germany’s involvement in the case are not yet clear, but Steinmeier’s intervention was preceded by calls from other writersthe French president, as well as human rights organizations, Reuters writes. Sansal’s case increased the diplomatic tension between France and its former colony Algeria. Relations between the two countries soured significantly after France backed Morocco’s sovereignty over the disputed Western Sahara region last year.
