France alarmed by disappearance of writer Sansal in Algeria

President Macron joins calls for information about Franco-Algerian novelist Boualem Sansal, missing in Algiers.

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An outspoken critic of the Algerian regime, Sansal is reported by some French media to have been arrested by Algerian police when he stepped off the plane.

“The president is very concerned and is following the situation closely,” a spokesman at the Elysée palace said. “He holds very dear the freedom of this great writer and intellectual.”

Several other prominent French politicians, mainly on the centre and right, have voiced their fears for Sansal, who made regular appearances on French media criticising both the Algerian government and the rise of Islamism.

By Friday there had been no official reaction in Algeria to the French concerns.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cvgxlz3rm2zo

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