Overview

• On July 1, the Algiers appeal court upheld Sansal’s five-year prison term and 500,000-dinar fine for charges including undermining national unity.
• Prosecutors had sought ten years behind bars at the appeal, but judges chose to maintain the original sentence.
• French leaders from President Macron to Prime Minister Bayrou have publicly urged President Tebboune to grant a humanitarian pardon.
• Sansal, 80, is battling prostate cancer and has been held in a prison hospital since December, raising urgent health concerns.
• A presidential pardon anticipated around the July 5 Independence Day celebrations is now his only path to freedom.