Overview

• Sansal formally renounced his right to appeal to the Supreme Court, solidifying the March verdict of undermining Algeria’s territorial integrity.
• President Abdelmadjid Tebboune’s July 4 amnesty decree excluded individuals convicted of state-sovereignty crimes, leaving Sansal off the list of 6,500 pardoned detainees.
• The charges stem from remarks he made to Frontières magazine alleging France’s colonial border transfers improperly granted Moroccan territory to Algeria.
• Supporters and French officials, including Prime Minister François Bayrou, are lobbying for clemency on humanitarian grounds due to Sansal’s advanced age and prostate cancer treatment.
• The writer’s firm sentence has further strained France–Algeria relations over freedom of expression and longstanding colonial-era border disputes.