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BBC News
01-07-2025
- Politics
- BBC News
Algeria sentences French sports journalist sentenced to seven years' imprisonment
French journalists' unions on Tuesday called on Algeria to release a French football writer who has been jailed for seven years for supporting Gleizes, who is 36, was sentenced on Sunday, after being found guilty of holding exchanges with a proponent of self-determination for Algeria's Kabyle journalist, who specialises in African football for the Paris-based So Foot magazine, travelled to Algeria in May 2024 for an article on the well-known club JSK (Jeunesse Sportive de Kabylie) based in Tizi Ouzou, some 100km (62 miles) from the capital Algiers. He was detained a few days later in Tizi Ouzou and for the last 13 months has been under a form of limited freedom, unable to leave the country and obliged to report regularly to advice from French diplomats, his family and fellow journalists kept his plight under wraps pending the result of the trial."The imprisonment of a journalist for carrying out his profession is a red line that must never be crossed. Christophe Gleizes must be given back his freedom, his family and his writing," journalists' representatives from around 40 different French media said in a statement."Nothing can justify the ordeal that Christophe is going through now," his family said. "In all his writing he showed a passionate interest in the lives of African footballers. Is this his reward?"Gleizes's case recalls that of French-Algerian writer Boualem Sansal, who has been in jail since being arrested at Algiers airport in November last Tuesday an appeals court in Algiers confirmed the five-year prison sentence handed down in March, after Sansal's conviction for breaking state security writer, who is 80 and suffers from cancer, was found to have "threatened national unity" in an interview he gave to a rightwing French website in which he questioned the official Algerian account of its pre-independence the appeals court sentence, French prime minister Francois Bayrou expressed the hope that President Abdelmadjid Tebboune would use the occasion of Algeria's 63rd independence anniversary on Saturday to grant a pardon to the Gleizes case, the foreign ministry in Paris said Tuesday it "regretted the heavy sentence" imposed on the journalist, but fell short of calling for his between the two countries have been on a knife-edge for the last year, since President Emmanuel Macron appeared to shift France's position on north Africa towards greater support for Algeria's historic rival then there has been a series of diplomatic rows, with tit-for-tat expulsions and a breakdown of cooperation over extradition and of Sansal say he is in effect a hostage, and is being used by the Algerian government to put pressure on says he was convicted following due process of the employer Franck Annese, founder of So Press media group, described him as a "super guy, enthusiastic, willing, and full of humour.""He has absolutely no political axe to grind. His interviews and articles prove it."According to Mr Annese, Gleizes "fell in love" with African football when he investigated the death in 2014 of Albert Ebossé, a Cameroonian forward who died after being struck on the head by a projectile while playing for led to his co-authoring a book – Magic System: Modern Slavery of African footballers – which strongly criticised the agents who "exploit the confidence and dreams of these young players."According to the campaigning group Reporters without Borders (RSF), in researching his article on JSK Gleizes had contacted an exiled Kabyle opposition figure who was once an influential figure at the football person is now leader of the Movement for Self-Determination of Kabylia (MAK), RSF 2021 MAK was proscribed as terrorist by the Algerian government. Gleizes's supporters contend that two of the journalist's three exchanges with the opposition figure took place before the MAK was banned; and that all the exchanges concerned football, not politics.
Yahoo
30-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Algeria sentences French sports journalist to seven years behind bars
Algerian authorities have sentenced a prominent French sports journalist to seven years in prison for "glorifying terrorism", media rights campaigners RSF have said, denouncing the verdict as "nonsensical". Christophe Gleizes, who contributes to the So Foot magazine, will file an appeal on Monday. Gleizes, 36, was ordered by the court in Tizi Ouzou, northern Algeria, to be immediately incarcerated, RSF said Sunday. "He has now been unjustly convicted and imprisoned for simply doing his job," it said. France's AFP news agency reported that Gleizes had been taken to Tizo Ouzou prison straight after his conviction. After filing his appeal, the case would be heard in October at the earliest. Gleizes, who has co-authored a book about football in Africa, travelled to Algeria in May 2024 to write about the local Tizi Ouzou football club Jeunesse Sportive de Kabylie (JSK) – named after Algeria's Kabylie region, home to the Berber Kabyle people. He was arrested on 28 May and placed under judicial control and prevented from leaving the country, RSF said. He was charged with "glorifying terrorism" and "possessing publications for propaganda purposes harmful to national interests". "Christophe Gleizes has been subjected to an absurd judicial control order for over a year," said Thibaut Bruttin, RSF's director general. Read more on RFI EnglishRead also:French-Algerian writer Boualem Sansal sentenced to five years in prisonFrance to expel Algerian diplomats after embassy staff sent home from AlgiersMacron shifts to quiet diplomacy in bid to resolve Algeria crisis
Asharq Al-Awsat
15-05-2025
- Politics
- Asharq Al-Awsat
France Expels Algerian Diplomats in Tit-for-tat Decision
France said Wednesday it will expel Algerian diplomats in response to Algeria's decision to do the same. The Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs said in a statement it had summoned Algerian officials to inform them of the decision, describing it as 'strict reciprocity' after 15 French officials were expelled from Algiers on Sunday. France called on Algerian authorities to 'demonstrate responsibility and to return to a demanding and constructive dialogue that had been initiated by our authorities, in the interest of both countries.' 'The Algerians wanted to send back our agents; we are sending theirs back,' French Foreign Minister Noël Barrot said on Wednesday, speaking to French broadcaster BFMTV. Algeria said it expelled French officials on Sunday because France had broken procedures, including in how it assigned new diplomats to replace a different set that were expelled last month. Despite economic ties and security cooperation, France and Algeria for decades have clashed over issues ranging from immigration to the painful legacy of French colonialism. Wednesday's decision came as Kabyle opposition figure Aksel Bellabbaci walked free after a Paris appeals court shunned Algeria's request to extradite him on terrorism charges. The 42-year-old vice president of the Movement for the Self-Determination of Kabyle (MAK) has lived in France since 2012.
