For the second consecutive year, President Abdelmadjid Tebboune addressed the nation this Sunday, December 29, in a joint session of Parliament at the Palais des Nations in Algiers. His speech, lasting over an hour and a half, marked Algeria’s first high-level government reaction to the controversial case of French-Algerian writer Boualem Sansal.
Sansal, 75, was arrested in mid-November at Algiers airport and charged with undermining state security and territorial integrity. President Tebboune labeled the writer an “impostor” during his address, referencing Sansal’s earlier claims in a French far-right media outlet that western Algeria historically belonged to Morocco.
Tebboune criticized these statements, saying, “You’re sending an impostor who doesn’t know his identity, doesn’t know his father, and claims that half of Algeria belongs to another state.” This public denouncement highlights the growing diplomatic crisis between Algeria and France.
The tensions began in July after French President Emmanuel Macron’s letter to Morocco’s King Mohammed VI recognized Moroccan sovereignty over occupied Western Sahara. Algeria responded by recalling its ambassador to Paris, and relations between the two nations remain strained.
Sansal remains in custody at Koléa prison but was recently transferred to Algiers’ Mustapha-Bacha hospital due to his deteriorating health. His request for provisional release was denied on December 11.
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