Algeria pardons jailed French-Algerian writer Boualem Sansal

Algeria granted a humanitarian pardon to French-Algerian novelist Boualem Sansal on Wednesday, releasing the 76-year-old writer after a year-long imprisonment that had sparked international condemnation and exposed deep diplomatic fissures between Algiers and Paris.

The acclaimed author, imprisoned since November 2024 upon returning to Algiers from France, was serving a five-year sentence for “undermining national unity” under…