Sansal was found guilty of undermining national unity, insulting an official body, undermining the national economy and possessing videos and publications that threaten national security and stability.

Kristenn Einarsson, Chair of the IPA’s Freedom to Publish Committee said: The freedom to publish also depends on authors’ freedom of expression, and readers’ freedom to read. Publishers need brave authors who wield their freedom of expression bravely to make readers think. Boualem Sansal has done this throughout his career. His sentencing is an insult. We encourage all IPA members to affirm their solidarity with Sansal by urging their own governments to support his release.

IPA members have also supported Sansal:

Sonia Draga, FEP President, declared : We have been informed and are appalled by the condemnation of Boualem Sansal to 5 years in prison and a fine of 3500 euros. Boualem should be a free man; his only offence is to have spoken and written freely over all these years. He must be freed immediately. European publishers call on the European institutions to reach to their Algerian counterparts to demand that he is released from prison and his sentence annulled.

Karin Schmidt-Friderichs, Chair of the German Publishers and Booksellers Association said: We are stunned and dismayed by the Algerian judiciary’s conviction of the writer and German Peace Prize winner Boualem Sansal. The conviction of an author for his peaceful expression of opinion is unacceptable and contradicts fundamental human rights principles.

Innocenzo Cipoletta, President of the Italian Publishers Association (AIE) said “The defense of freedom of opinion and expression has been and always will be at the center of the action of the Italian Publishers Association. For this reason, AIE supports the request for the immediate release of the writer and hopes that his case, as proposed during the Brussels Book Fair in a meeting organized by the association of German publishers Börsenverein, will be brought to the attention of public opinion in all European book fairs. Sansal pays for his commitment in denouncing authoritarianism and theocratic regimes.”

The IPA called for Sansal’s release upon his arrest.
https://internationalpublishers.org/ipa-concerned-at-freedom-of-expression-situation-in-algeria/

A call for Sansal’s release will take place after the announcement of the Prix Voltaire shortlist at the Festival du Livre de Paris on 11 April. Read more:
https://www.festivaldulivredeparis.fr/fr/programmation/view/942/la-lecture-une-forme-de-resistance-annonce-de-la-pre-selection-des-prix-voltaire-2025

Sansal spoke at the opening ceremony of Strasbourg as World Book Capital City on 23 April 2024, you can see his intervention (in French) here:
https://www.youtube.com/live/tBamiCb40vQsi=QYiHwxWw3WBgn0Jw&t=5599

#FreeBoualemSansal