Court jails French-Algerian writer five years as Macron calls for release

An Algerian court on Thursday sentenced French-Algerian writer Boualem Sansal, whose case has been at the heart of a diplomatic storm, to five years behind bars, an AFP journalist inside the courtroom said.The author is known for his criticism of Algerian authorities as well as of Islamists.He was arrested in November and stood trial for undermining Algeria’s territorial integrity after saying in an interview with a far-right French media outlet that France unfairly ceded Moroccan territory to Algeria during the colonial era.The statement, which echoed a long-standing Moroccan claim, was viewed by Algeria as an affront to its national sovereignty. The author’s arrest in Algiers deepened a diplomatic rift with France, which analysts have said is the worst the two countries have seen in years.A court in Dar El Beida, near Algiers, sentenced “the defendant in his presence to a five-year prison term” and fined him 500,000 Algerian dinars ($3,730).Last week, prosecutors at an Algiers court...