French journalists on Tuesday called on Algeria to release a French football writer who was sentenced to seven years in prison for supporting terrorism.
Christophe Gleizes, 36, was sentenced on Sunday after being found guilty of self-determination with Kabyle minority in Algeria.
The journalist specializes in African football for the Parisian So Foot Magazine, traveled to Algeria in May 2024 to write an article on the famous club JSK (Jeunesse Sportive de Kabylie) in Tizi Ouzou, headquartered in Capital Algiers about 100 kilometers (62 miles).
A few days later, he was detained in Tizi Ouzou, who has been in a limited state of freedom for the past 13 months, unable to leave the country and had to report to the police regularly.
At the advice of French diplomats, his family and journalists posted their plight before the outcome of the trial.
“The incarceration of journalists in his profession is a red line, a red line that must not be crossed. Christophe Gleizes must return his freedom, his family and his writing,” said a statement.
“Nothing justifies the torture Christoph is experiencing right now,” his family said.
“In all his writing, he is passionate about the lives of African football players. Is this his reward?”
Gleizes’ case recalls France-Algerian writer Boualem Sansal, who has been in jail since his arrest at the Algiers airport in November last year.
The Algiers Court of Appeal confirmed a five-year prison sentence on Tuesday after Sansar was convicted of violating the state security law.
The 80-year-old cancer-affected writer found “threatening national unity” in an interview with the right-wing French website, questioning Algeria’s official account of its independence history.
French Prime Minister Francois Bayrou expressed hope that President Abdelmadjid Tebboune will use Algeria’s 63rd Anniversary of Independence on Saturday to pardon to Sansal.
Regarding the case, the Paris Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday that it was “regrettably a harsh verdict was imposed on the reporter” but was unwilling to release him.
Relations between the two countries have been on the brink of the knife since last year, as President Emmanuel Macron appears to have shifted France’s position in North Africa to greater support for Algeria’s historic rival Morocco.
Since then, there have been a series of diplomatic banks that have sold tat evictions and have broken down on extradition and visas.
Sansar’s supporters say he is actually a hostage and the Algerian government is using to put pressure on Paris.
Algeria said that in the course of the law, he was convicted.
Franck Annese, the employer of Gleizes, the founder of So Press Media Group, described him as “super man, passionate, willing, full of humor.”
“He absolutely has no political axe to grind. His interviews and articles prove it.”
According to Mr Annese, he was “falling in love” with African football when he investigated the death of Cameroon striker Albert Ebossé in 2014, and died after being hit by a projectile while playing for JSK.
This led to his shared work – Magic System: Modern Slavery for African Football Players – a strong critic of agents who “harness and dreams of these young players.”
According to the campaign group reporter No Boundaries (RSF), while studying his JSK Gleizes article, he contacted an exiled Kabyle opposition figure who was once an influential figure in the football club.
The man is now the leader of the Kabylia (MAK) self-determination movement, RSF said.
In 2021, Mark was banned by the Algerian government as a terrorist.
Gleizes supporters argue that two of the three exchanges between journalists and the opposition were conducted before banning MAK. All communication involves football, not politics.
