Since his arrest at Algiers airport last November, the French-Algerian novelist Boualem Sansal, a longtime defender of democratic values, has been unjustly detained and denied cancer treatment. To call attention to his plight and the abuses of Algeria's authoritarian regime, in late February he stopped eating.
PARIS – In an age when freedom of expression is increasingly under threat, exemplary voices such as Boualem Sansal are needed more than ever. The 75-year-old Algerian novelist and essayist, who published his first book in 1999 and became a French citizen in early 2024, has long criticized authoritarianism and defended liberal values, speaking truth to power with a clarity that unnerves despots and inspires democrats. Today, Sansal urgently requires not only our attention, but also our solidarity.
PARIS – In an age when freedom of expression is increasingly under threat, exemplary voices such as Boualem Sansal are needed more than ever. The 75-year-old Algerian novelist and essayist, who published his first book in 1999 and became a French citizen in early 2024, has long criticized authoritarianism and defended liberal values, speaking truth to power with a clarity that unnerves despots and inspires democrats. Today, Sansal urgently requires not only our attention, but also our solidarity.