Rabat – French sports journalist Christophe Gleizes, jailed in Algeria since June, is keeping “his spirits up” but feels “totally isolated,” his parents told AFP after visiting him twice this month in Tizi Ouzou prison.
The 41-year-old journalist was sentenced to seven years in prison at the end of June for entering the country with a tourist visa, “apology of terrorism,” and “possession of publications harmful to national interest.” His family has described the accusations as “completely absurd.”
Algerian authorities accuse him of having contacts with leaders of Kabyle football. Reporters Without Borders (RSF) believes the charges are politically motivated. The organization says that the “terrorism” accusation is linked to past contacts Gleizes had in 2015 and 2017 with the head of the football club Jeunesse Sportive de Kabylie (JSK), who is also involved in the Movement for the Autonomy of Kabylie (MAK).
RSF says Algerian authorities labeled MAK a terrorist group in 2021, years after Gleizes’ early contacts.
‘Cut off from the world’
His mother, Sylvie Godard, said she was shocked when she first saw him on August 12. “He had shaved his head, which I had never seen before,” she said. “But he looked well physically. He is doing a lot of sport to clear his mind.”
The family was allowed a second visit on August 21, which his mother called “a big victory.” She explained that Gleizes gets along with prison staff and his cellmate, but still suffers from being “cut off from the world.”
His stepfather, Francis Godard, said the visits reassured the journalist. “He thought he had been somewhat forgotten in his prison. He knows nothing about what is happening in France,” he told AFP.
The family insists that his case should not become a tool in political tensions between France and Algeria. His mother says that Christophe is the only French journalist currently detained abroad, urging that his case be handled fairly.
Gleizes, who has been detained in Algeria since May 2024, is now waiting for his appeal trial, expected this fall.
Earlier this month, President Emmanuel Macron asked for “more firmness” from Algeria over the case and that of Boualem Sansal. However, Gleizes’ family rejected comparisons with that of the French-Algerian writer, who was also sentenced to prison in Algeria. “Both deserve to be freed, but these cases have nothing to do with each other,” said Francis Godard.
