PARIS: Politicians, writers and activists have called for the release of French-Algerian writer Boualem Sansal, whose arrest in Algeria is seen as the latest instance of the stifling of creative expression in the military-dominated North African country.
The 75-year-old author, who is an outspoken critic of Islamism and the Algerian regime, has not been heard from by friends, family or his French publisher since leaving Paris for Algiers earlier this month. He has not been seen near his home in his small town, Boumerdes, his neighbors told The Associated Press.
“The detention without serious grounds of a writer of French nationality is unacceptable,” France’s Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot said on Wednesday.
He added Sansal’s work “does honor to both his countries and to the values we cherish.”
The European Parliament discussed Algeria’s repression of freedom of speech on Wednesday and called for “his immediate and unconditional release.”
Algerian authorities have not publicly announced charges against Sansal, but the APS state news service said he was arrested at the airport.
Though no longer censored, Sansal’s novels have in the past faced bans in Algeria. A professed admirer of French culture, his writings on Islam’s role in society, authoritarianism, freedom of expression and the civil war that ravaged Algeria throughout the 1990s have won him fans across the ideological spectrum in France, from far-right leader Marine Le Pen to President Emmanuel Macron, who attended his French naturalization ceremony in 2023.
But his work has provoked ire in Algeria, from both authorities and Islamists, who have issued death threats against him in the 1990s and afterward.
Though few garner such international attention, Sansal is among a long list of political prisoners incarcerated in Algeria, where the hopes of a protest movement that led to the ouster of the country’s then-82 year old president have been crushed under President Abdelmadjid Tebboune.
Human rights groups have decried the ongoing repression facing journalists, activists and writers. Amnesty International in September called it a “brutal crackdown on human rights including the rights to freedom of expression, peaceful assembly and association.”
Algerian authorities have in recent months disrupted a book fair in Bejaia and excluded prominent authors from the country’s largest book fair in Algeria has in recent months, including this year’s Goncourt Prize winner Kamel Daoud,
“This tragic news reflects an alarming reality in Algeria, where freedom of expression is no more than a memory in the face of repression, imprisonment and the surveillance of the entire society,” French-Algerian author Kamel Daoud wrote in an editorial signed by more than a dozen authors in Le Point this week.
Sansal has been a polarizing figure in Algeria for holding some pro-Israel views and for likening political Islam to Nazism and totalitarianism in his novels, including “The Oath of the Barbarians” and “2084: The End of the World.”
Despite the controversial subject matter, Sansal had never faced detention. His arrest comes as relations between France and Algeria face newfound strains. France in July backed Morocco’s sovereignty over the disputed Western Sahara, angering Algeria, which has long backed the independence Polisario Front and pushed for a referendum to determine the future of the coastal northwest African territory.
“A regime that thinks it has to stop its writers, whatever they think, is certainly a weak regime,” French-Algerian academic Ali Bensaad wrote in a statement posted on Facebook.
Algeria facing growing calls to release French-Algerian author Boualem Sansal
https://arab.news/vw9xm
Algeria facing growing calls to release French-Algerian author Boualem Sansal
- “The detention without serious grounds of a writer of French nationality is unacceptable,” France’s Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot said
- The European Parliament discussed Algeria’s repression of freedom of speech on Wednesday and called for “his immediate and unconditional release”
Israel PM warns ‘more to come’ after strikes on Yemen ports
“Our pilots now hit successfully two terror ports belonging to the Houthis again. This is a continuation and there is more to come,” Netanyahu said in a video statement. “We are not willing to sit on the sidelines and let the Houthis attack us. We will hit them far more, including their leadership and all the infrastructure that allows them to hit us.”
British lawmakers praise Jordan’s role in regional peace efforts
- Politicians stress value of Jordanian-British relations, necessity of strategic partnership
- “Jordan plays an important role in consolidating stability in the Middle East,” said MP Hamilton
DUBAI: British lawmakers have applauded Jordan’s role in maintaining regional stability and providing aid to the Gaza Strip.
The comments came in an interview with the Jordan News Agency’s correspondent in London.
The visit was at the invitation of the British Group of the Inter-Parliamentary Union, and was headed by MP Zuhair Khashman of the Jordanian delegation.
British politicians stressed the value of Jordanian-British relations and the necessity of their strategic partnership.
“Jordan plays an important role in consolidating stability in the Middle East,” said MP Fabian Hamilton, chairman of the BGIPU.
Hamilton added that there were three key reasons for its role in helping to stabilize the Middle East: its vital geographical location, its political stability, and the leadership of King Abdullah II.
Baroness Gloria Hooper, a member of the House of Lords, said a two-state solution in the region was essential to securing lasting peace. She also made note of the UK’s public opinion on the war in Gaza.
She added: “Despite growing pressure in Parliament on the British government to take more measures to stop the Israeli war on Gaza, we need to increase and redouble these efforts.”
MP Alistair Carmichael, chairman of the All-Party Parliamentary Jordan Group, said: “The situation in Gaza is continuously deteriorating, making support for Jordanian humanitarian efforts a top priority.”
MP Bambos Charalambous said that “the humanitarian tragedy in Gaza cannot be dealt with by individual efforts or through a single country alone, but through broad international partnerships.”
Gaza, Sudan most at risk as global starvation approaches 300m: Report
- Populations of both face ‘starvation, death, destitution and high rates of acute malnutrition’
- War, aid cuts, climate among issues causing food shortages in Yemen, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Somalia
LONDON: Almost 300 million people face death from starvation, with the most at risk in war-torn Gaza and Sudan, the latest Global Report on Food Crises has warned.
The report said 295.3 million people have been identified as facing “high levels of acute food insecurity” after a sixth consecutive year of the global number growing, with people in South Sudan, Yemen, Somalia, Afghanistan and Pakistan also noted as being at particular risk.
Cuts to humanitarian aid budgets and escalating conflicts were highlighted as having pushed as many as 13.7 million people into chronic food insecurity over the past 12 months.
The report noted that the number of people most at risk of food shortages as defined by the UN-backed Integrated Food Security Phase Classification had more than doubled in that period, and that 95 percent of those were in Gaza and Sudan.
It added that the populations of both face “starvation, death, destitution and high rates of acute malnutrition.”
More than half of Gaza’s approximately 2.1 million people face “catastrophe,” while Sudan has as many as 24 million people suffering food insecurity. Famine has been officially declared in the African country.
“Intensifying conflict, increasing geopolitical tensions, global economic uncertainty and profound funding cuts are deepening acute food insecurity,” the GRFC said.
“Following the closure of all crossings into the Gaza Strip in early March, and the collapse of the two-month ceasefire, food access has been severely restricted.”
The GRFC said 19 other countries are suffering from worsening food security “aggravated” by drought, highlighting Somalia, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Ethiopia and Kenya.
War is also increasing several other countries’ food security, especially Nigeria and Myanmar.
UN peacekeepers attacked by civilians in Lebanon, no casualties reported
- The troops used non-lethal force to protect themselves and those present, according to UNIFIL
- The Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) were notified and arrived shortly after the incident
DUBAI: A large group of civilians wielding metal rods and axes attacked a patrol of UN troops in southern Lebanon on Friday, causing damage to UN vehicles but no injuries, a United Nations peacekeeping force said.
The UN troops used non-lethal force to protect themselves and those present, according to the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), adding the patrol had been on a routine operation between the villages of Jmayjmeh and Khirbat Silim.
The Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) were notified and arrived shortly after the incident, escorting the patrol back to base.
UNIFIL said the patrol had been pre-planned and coordinated with the LAF.
The UN peacekeeping mission stressed that its mandate, under UN Security Council Resolution 1701, guarantees freedom of movement in its area of operations with or without LAF accompaniment.
On Wednesday, UNIFIL said that direct fire from the Israeli army had hit the perimeter of one of its peacekeeping positions in south Lebanon. UNIFIL said the incident on Tuesday was the first of its kind since Israel and Iran-backed Lebanese militant group Hezbollah agreed to a ceasefire last November.
British doctor releases footage of aftermath of Israeli strike on Gaza hospital
- Dr. Tom Potokar, consultant plastic surgeon, took video after 6 bombs killed 28 people at European Gaza Hospital
- ‘It’s a direct hit on the hospital … Shrapnel everywhere … Absolute mayhem’
LONDON: A British doctor in Gaza has released footage showing the devastation caused by an Israeli airstrike on the European Gaza Hospital near the southern city of Khan Younis on Thursday.
Dr. Tom Potokar, a consultant plastic surgeon, shared the video with the BBC, documenting the aftermath of an attack by Israel on the facility. Six bombs were dropped on the hospital, killing 28 people.
Potokar, who has traveled to Gaza 16 times to provide vital treatment to Palestinians trapped in the enclave, described the footage as a “snapshot” of his experience working at the hospital.
In the video, he described an “absolutely massive strike … right in front of the emergency room,” as people ran and lay on the ground outside the hospital.
“Shrapnel everywhere. Devastation right in the forecourt of the hospital. Absolutely terrible,” he said in the footage.
In further scenes described as “absolute mayhem,” Potokar walked through the corridors of the hospital as medics, patients and other civilians tried to respond to the attack.
“It’s a direct hit on the hospital,” he said, as screams echoed in the background and smoke billowed through the building.
Standing outside an operating theater, Potokar then turned the camera on himself to survey the damage, and said the facility was “too dangerous” to take people to be operated on, and staff were leaving to find shelter. He later reported that the hospital had been entirely evacuated.
Potokar told the BBC: “We’ve been treating patients with huge open wounds, some even with maggots in, infected, multiple amputations, children down to the age of two with significant nerve injuries, traumatic brain injuries.”
At least 114 Palestinians were killed in Israeli strikes in Gaza on Thursday, according to local authorities.
