The Algerian writer Boualem Sansal, a passionate lover of French culture and whistleblower on the ravages of the Islamisation of France, has been missing since his return to his native country. Those close to him fear that he may have been arrested and imprisoned by the Algerian authorities.
His family and friends have had no news of him for several days, despite the fact that he was on his usual short visit to Algeria. An Algerian national who recently obtained French citizenship, the writer regularly travels between the two countries. He recently settled in a small town 45 km from the Algerian capital, Boumerdes.
Sansal reportedly took off from Paris last Saturday in the company of a journalist whose identity is not known. Neither person has been heard of since they landed. The two men were likely arrested at Algiers airport. Their mobile phones are unanswered, probably disconnected. According to local sources quoted by Le Figaro, Sansal’s house in Boumerdes has been apparently empty for several days, even though he is supposed to be there.
Boualem Sansal is a talented writer, known in France for his novels and essays, in which he sings of his love for the French language and culture, and denounces the growing hold of Islamism over his adopted country. His futuristic novel 2084: The End of the World—in homage to George Orwell’s 1984—published in 2015, won the Grand Prix du Roman from the Académie Française. The book depicts a dystopian world locked in by a religious ideology inspired by Islamism. It serves as a warning to Western societies that are too complacent towards this growing menace—for which he was accused by certain titles in the mainstream press of fostering a climate of “Islamophobia”.
In 2021, along with other French-language authors, he went to Lagrasse Abbey in the south of France for a literary and spiritual retreat, the memories of which are collected in Trois jours et trois nuits (Three Days and Three Nights). Although an atheist, he took the opportunity to pay a heartfelt tribute to traditional Catholic spirituality. “I’m an atheist, but I regret it,” he often replied when asked about his relationship with religion.
Sansal is known as a vocal critic of the current Algerian government. Many literary and journalistic figures in France are concerned about this unusual disappearance. His publisher said he was “more than worried.” Those close to the writer suspect that he is in the hands of the Algerian security services, which would justify intervention by the Élysée Palace and the Quai d’Orsay to find out more about his fate—a sensitive move at a time when relations between Paris and Algiers are particularly tense.
