PARIS: Politicians, writers and activists have called for the release of French-Algerian writer Boualem Sansal, whose arrest in Algeria is seen as the latest instance of the stifling of creative expression in the military-dominated North African country.
The 75-year-old author, who is an outspoken critic of Islamism and the Algerian regime, has not been heard from by friends, family or his French publisher since leaving Paris for Algiers earlier this month. He has not been seen near his home in his small town, Boumerdes, his neighbors told The Associated Press.
“The detention without serious grounds of a writer of French nationality is unacceptable,” France’s Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot said on Wednesday.
He added Sansal’s work “does honor to both his countries and to the values we cherish.”
The European Parliament discussed Algeria’s repression of freedom of speech on Wednesday and called for “his immediate and unconditional release.”
Algerian authorities have not publicly announced charges against Sansal, but the APS state news service said he was arrested at the airport.
Though no longer censored, Sansal’s novels have in the past faced bans in Algeria. A professed admirer of French culture, his writings on Islam’s role in society, authoritarianism, freedom of expression and the civil war that ravaged Algeria throughout the 1990s have won him fans across the ideological spectrum in France, from far-right leader Marine Le Pen to President Emmanuel Macron, who attended his French naturalization ceremony in 2023.
But his work has provoked ire in Algeria, from both authorities and Islamists, who have issued death threats against him in the 1990s and afterward.
Though few garner such international attention, Sansal is among a long list of political prisoners incarcerated in Algeria, where the hopes of a protest movement that led to the ouster of the country’s then-82 year old president have been crushed under President Abdelmadjid Tebboune.
Human rights groups have decried the ongoing repression facing journalists, activists and writers. Amnesty International in September called it a “brutal crackdown on human rights including the rights to freedom of expression, peaceful assembly and association.”
Algerian authorities have in recent months disrupted a book fair in Bejaia and excluded prominent authors from the country’s largest book fair in Algeria has in recent months, including this year’s Goncourt Prize winner Kamel Daoud,
“This tragic news reflects an alarming reality in Algeria, where freedom of expression is no more than a memory in the face of repression, imprisonment and the surveillance of the entire society,” French-Algerian author Kamel Daoud wrote in an editorial signed by more than a dozen authors in Le Point this week.
Sansal has been a polarizing figure in Algeria for holding some pro-Israel views and for likening political Islam to Nazism and totalitarianism in his novels, including “The Oath of the Barbarians” and “2084: The End of the World.”
Despite the controversial subject matter, Sansal had never faced detention. His arrest comes as relations between France and Algeria face newfound strains. France in July backed Morocco’s sovereignty over the disputed Western Sahara, angering Algeria, which has long backed the independence Polisario Front and pushed for a referendum to determine the future of the coastal northwest African territory.
“A regime that thinks it has to stop its writers, whatever they think, is certainly a weak regime,” French-Algerian academic Ali Bensaad wrote in a statement posted on Facebook.
Algeria facing growing calls to release French-Algerian author Boualem Sansal
https://arab.news/vw9xm
Algeria facing growing calls to release French-Algerian author Boualem Sansal
- “The detention without serious grounds of a writer of French nationality is unacceptable,” France’s Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot said
- The European Parliament discussed Algeria’s repression of freedom of speech on Wednesday and called for “his immediate and unconditional release”
Queen Rania meets young entrepreneurs, highlights community development, youth empowerment
- Queen briefed on programs, collaborations
JERASH, Jordan: Queen Rania of Jordan visited Jerash on Sunday, meeting members of the Darb Al-Noor Association for Community Development and a group of young entrepreneurs she previously supported under a sponsorship scheme, the Jordan News Agency reported.
The queen was welcomed by Noor Banat, the president of the association, and was briefed on the organization’s programs and collaborations with local institutions.
The association focuses on supporting youngsters and women through small-scale projects and providing safe spaces and educational opportunities for children.
Queen Rania toured the Beit Al-Aseilat rest stop, an association initiative offering tourists cultural and culinary experiences.
The rest stop featured local food production activities — including olive oil, za’atar, and sumac processing — and the queen observed the olive-pressing process while interacting with employees in the production kitchen, before visiting the shop that sells products crafted by women and youngsters in Jerash.
Queen Rania also met the association’s board members and held discussions with youngsters from Jerash who run income-generating projects which were supported by the Jordan River Foundation’s sponsorship scheme in 2024. They shared their experiences in creating employment opportunities in the local area.
Palestinian population in Gaza Strip decreased by 6% in 2024 during Israeli war
- 5.5m Palestinians reside in West Bank, East Jerusalem, Gaza Strip
- 65% of them are under 30, only 4% above 65
- Nearly 100,000 Palestinians have fled Gaza Strip since October 2023
- Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics confirms deaths of 45,484 individuals in the Israeli war on Gaza, as of December 2024
LONDON: The population of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip decreased by 6 percent in 2024, while the total number of Palestinians in the Occupied Territories, inside Israel, and globally reached almost 15 million.
The Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics’ 2024 consensus published on Sunday reported that the Gaza Strip’s population decreased by 6 percent in 2024, resulting in a loss of nearly 160,000 Palestinians, bringing the total population to 2.1 million.
The report confirmed the deaths of 45,484 individuals during the Israeli war on the Gaza Strip, as of December 2024.
The casualties included 17,581 children, 12,048 women, and 11,000 individuals who were missing and believed to be dead under the rubble.
Additionally, 108,090 people were injured, and nearly 100,000 Palestinians have fled the coastal enclave since the Israeli military aggression began in October 2023.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said the figures were “terrifying,” and showed the extent of the Israeli occupation’s “brutality and its bloody massacres against our people,” the WAFA News Agency reported.
The total number of Palestinians reached 14.9 million in 2024, of which, according to the Bureau of Statistics, 7.3 million lived between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea.
Of these, 5.5 million resided in the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and Gaza, with 65 percent being under 30 and only 4 percent above 65.
About 3.4 million people lived in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, 2.1 million in the Gaza Strip, while 1.8 million were Palestinian citizens of Israel.
Around 6.4 million Palestinians resided across various Arab countries, including Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, the UAE, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia.
The remaining 1.2 million Palestinians belonged to the diaspora in Western countries, including Europe and North America.
Israel kills member of Palestinian security forces
- The Palestinian security services identified Rabaiya as a first lieutenant in its Preventive Security force, saying he was killed while “performing his national duty”
JERUSALEM: Israeli forces killed a member of the Palestinian security services in the occupied West Bank whom they accused of being a militant. Tearful Palestinians on Sunday meanwhile laid to rest six people killed in Israeli strikes in the Gaza Strip the day before, including a teenager.
Israel’s paramilitary Border Police said they carried out an operation in the West Bank village of Meithaloun to arrest Hassan Rabaiya, describing him as a wanted militant.
They said he was killed in a shootout while trying to escape, and that the troops found a shotgun, weapons parts and around $26,000 in cash inside his home.
Meithaloun is near the northern West Bank city of Jenin, an epicenter of Israeli-Palestinian violence in recent years.
The Palestinian security services identified Rabaiya as a first lieutenant in its Preventive Security force, saying he was killed while “performing his national duty.”
The Palestinian Authority has been waging a rare crackdown on militants in Jenin in recent weeks, angering many Palestinians.
The internationally recognized Palestinian Authority exercises limited autonomy in parts of the Israeli-occupied West Bank and cooperates with Israel on security matters. But Israel has long accused it of inciting violence and turning a blind eye to militants.
Meanwhile, Palestinians in Gaza held funeral prayers outside a hospital after six people were killed in two Israeli strikes the night before.
The mother and grandmother of the 15-year-old who was killed peeled back the white funeral shroud and kissed his cheeks as they sobbed. A few dozen people then gathered for prayers outside Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in the central town of Deir Al-Balah.
Hezbollah leader Nasrallah was killed last year inside war operations room, aide says
- Nasrallah “used to lead the battle and war from this location,” Hezbollah official Wafiq Safa told news conference near the site where Nasrallah was killed
BEIRUT: Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah was killed in an Israeli airstrike last year while inside the group’s war operations room, according to new details Sunday disclosed by a senior Hezbollah official.
A series of Israeli airstrikes flattened several buildings in Beirut’s southern suburbs on Sept. 27, 2024, killing Nasrallah. The Lebanese Health Ministry said six people died. According to news reports, Nasrallah and other senior officials were meeting underground.
The assassination of Nasrallah, who had led Hezbollah for 32 years, turned months of low-level strikes between Israel and the militants into all-out war that battered much of southern and eastern Lebanon for two months until a US-brokered ceasefire took effect Nov. 27.
“His Eminence (Hassan Nasrallah) used to lead the battle and war from this location,” top Hezbollah security official Wafiq Safa told a news conference Sunday near the site where Nasrallah was killed. He said Nasrallah died in the war operations room. He did not offer other details.
Lebanese media had reported that Safa was a target of Israeli airstrikes in central Beirut before the ceasefire but appeared unscathed.
During the first phase of the ceasefire, Hezbollah is supposed to move its fighters, weapons and infrastructure away from southern Lebanon north of the Litani River, while Israeli troops that invaded southern Lebanon need to withdraw all within 60 days. Lebanese army soldiers are to deploy in large numbers and alongside United Nations peacekeepers be the sole armed presence in southern Lebanon.
Lebanon and Hezbollah have been critical of ongoing Israeli strikes and overflights across the country and for only withdrawing from two of dozens of Lebanese villages it controls. Israel says that the Lebanese military has not done its share in dismantling Hezbollah infrastructure.
Hezbollah’s current leader Naim Kassem in a televised address Saturday warned that its fighters could strike Israel if its troops don’t leave the south by the end of the month.
Meanwhile, Israel’s defense minister Israel Katz echoed similar sentiments should Hezbollah’s militants not head north of the Litani River and their infrastructure remain intact.
“If this condition is not met, there will be no agreement, and Israel will be forced to act on its own to ensure the safe return of the residents of (Israel’s) north to their homes,” he said.
Safa said that Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, who negotiated the ceasefire deal with Washington, told Hezbollah that the government will meet with US envoy Amos Hochstein soon. “And in light of what happens, then there will be a position,” said Safa.
Hochstein had led the shuttle diplomacy efforts to reach the fragile truce.
Syria monitor reports blasts at arms depots near Damascus
- Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor said the blasts in Kisweh, south of the Syrian capital, may be the result of an Israeli air strike
BEIRUT: A Syria war monitor said explosions on Sunday rocked an area near Damascus housing weapons depots used by the toppled government of Bashar Assad.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor said the blasts in Kisweh, south of the Syrian capital, may be the result of an Israeli air strike.
The Israeli military, which has struck many military sites in Syria in recent weeks, told AFP in Jerusalem it did not attack the site.
The Britain-based Observatory, which has a network of sources in Syria, said that “loud blasts resonated in the wider capital area.”
The explosions occurred “at ammunition depots of the former regime forces... near the town of Kisweh,” sending a thick cloud of smoke billowing over the site, the Observatory said.
Israel, which rarely comments on its actions in neighboring Syria, has carried out hundreds of air strikes on military sites since Islamist-led forces ousted president Assad and seized Damascus last month.
Israel has said it was seeking to prevent weapons from falling into hostile hands.
Most recently, the Observatory said Israeli war planes hit sites of the now defunct Syrian army in the Aleppo area on Friday.
In late December, the Observatory said 11 people died in an explosion at an arms storage facility in the Adra area north Damascus, adding that it was possibly the result of an Israeli strike. Israel denied any involvement.
