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Raba — Algerian president Abdelmadjid Tebboune sparked outrage for his new controversial remarks, in which he labeled detained author Boualem Sansal as an “imposter.”
Commenting on the November arrest of the author, Tebboune dedicated his controversial speech to Sansal’s arrest, describing him an “imposter who doesn’t know his identity.”
“You send an imposter who doesn’t know his identity, doesn’t know his father, and comes to say that half of Algeria belongs to another state,” Tebboune said.
Algerian authorities reportedly took offense to his comments to French news outlet Frontieres, where he criticized the Algerian regime.
The author’s lawyer Francois Zimeray expressed concern about the lack of information about Sansal’s condition during his arrest.
He told RTL radio that he had no precise news about the author’s detention conditions.
Institutions such as Academie Francaise expressed solidarity with the author, calling for his immediate release.
Many other institutions condemned his arrest, including the Academie des Sciences d’Outree Mer, which called for the author’s freedom of movement and expression without delay.
This is not the first time for Algeria to crackdown on activists and movements, as the regime has been condemned for using terrorism law against critics voicing opposition with its domestic and foreign policies.
The writer’s arrest comes at a time of political crisis between France and Algeria, especially after Paris’ decision to recognize Morocco’s sovereignty over its southern provinces in Western Sahara.
The arrest also came amid an online movement in Algeria called #Manish_Radi, a societal initiative condemning the socio-economic and deteriorating human right conditions in the North African country.
