French media unite to demand release of sports journalist Christophe Gleizes imprisoned in Algeria

PARIS (AP) — A large number of French media outlets on Wednesday called for the release of sports journalist Christophe Gleizes, who is imprisoned in Algeria ahead of his appeals trial next week.

The Alliance of General Information Press, which represents more than 300 outlets, published a collective op-ed across its members’ publications. A court of appeal in Tizi Ouzou is set to review Gleizes’ case on Dec. 3.

The 36-year-old French freelance sports journalist has been sentenced to seven years in prison in Algeria over an interview with a soccer official accused of ties to a banned separatist movement, in a case rights groups say criminalizes routine reporting.

Gleizes was arrested on May 28, 2024 while reporting on a soccer club in the Kabylie region. He was placed under judicial supervision and later found guilty of “glorifying terrorism” and “possessing publications aimed at propaganda harmful to the national interest,” Reporters Without Borders said.

Relations between France and Algeria have been strained in recent years, with the two countries sparring over migration, extradition, trade and France’s shift in position on the disputed Western Sahara. But the release earlier this month of French-Algerian novelist Boualem Sansal after a yearlong imprisonment has revived hopes that Gleizes could soon be freed as well.

“A reporter who questions a sports official is not complicit in their positions: they are doing their job,” the op-ed stated. “Relations between France and Algeria are going through a difficult period. But diplomatic tensions should never result in imprisonment, especially of journalists.”

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