Overview
- He was pardoned and released on November 12 after roughly a year in detention and is receiving medical care in Germany.
- Speaking from Berlin in a call relayed by Kamel Daoud, Sansal said he hopes to reach Paris on Friday or Saturday, noting his schedule remains uncertain for political reasons.
- The 81-year-old writer said he feels relatively well and declared, “Bonjour la France, I’m coming back,” adding that a year in prison would not break him.
- He described being held in a very high-security wing with near-total isolation, saying contact was largely limited to visits from his wife Naziha.
- He had been sentenced to five years for “attacking national unity” over October 2024 remarks to Frontières, a case that deepened the Paris–Algiers rift tied to Western Sahara and that some reports link to German efforts credited with facilitating his release.