French-Algerian writerBoualem Sansal, who had been in Germany sincehis release from prisoninAlgeriaon Wednesday, is "back inFrance", his support committee announced in a statement on Tuesday.

"The International Support Committee for Boualem Sansal warmly welcomes the return to France of our friend and compatriot", the statement said, without providing further details."It will now be up to the writer to choose the moment and the formats in which he wishes to express himself. The Committee will fully respect this time of rest, reconstruction and newfound freedom," he added.

Sansal, 81, who is suffering from cancer, was arrested in November 2024 in Algiers in the midst of a diplomatic crisis between France and Algeria.

Read moreThe diplomatic gamble that freed French-Algerian writer Boualem Sansal

He waspardoned last Wednesdayby Algerian PresidentAbdelmadjid Tebbouneat the request of his German counterpartFrank-Walter Steinmeier.

Sansal travelled to France fromGermanywhere he had been receiving medical treatment following his release last week.

His novels warning of the risks of creeping authoritarianism but also Islamisation have made him a favourite on the right in France but deeply unpopular with the authorities in his country of birth.

In October 2024, Sansal told a far-right French media outlet that France had unjustly transferred Moroccan territory to Algeria during the 1830-1962 colonial period.

'A great writer whose dignity, moral strength and courage have been exemplary'

Upon arriving in France, Sansal was welcomed by PresidentEmmanuel Macronin a meeting at the Elysee Palace, the French presidency said.

Macron, it said, is "delighted at the release of Mr Sansal, a great writer whose dignity, moral strength and courage have been exemplary".

His detention was seen by supporters as a consequence of a political row between Algeria and France over sovereignty of the territory of theWestern Sahara, where Paris backs the claim of Algiers' north African rivalMorocco.

Algeria handed Sansal a five-year jail term in March on charges of undermining its territorial integrity after arresting him in November last year on arrival from France.

Even after Sansal's release, prominent French sports journalist Christophe Gleizes remains in an Algerian prison, sentenced to seven years for "glorifying terrorism" for having sought to interview an outlawed group.

France is "fervently hoping for" the release of Gleizes and "we are working towards it", the French presidency said.

The support committee of Sansal for its part urged the "immediate release" of Gleizes.

French-Algerian relations have been shadowed by numerous political disputes over the last years.

But analysts say both sides have also yet to overcome the mutual recriminations left by the long 1954-1962 war that brought Algeria independence, as well as the legacy of over a century of French colonisation.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP)

Originally published on France24