فاس نيوز ميديا جريدة الكترونية جهوية تعنى بشؤون و أخبار جهة فاس مكناس – متجددة على مدار الساعة
Paris – The spokesperson for the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced on Wednesday that the Algerian judiciary had issued “two international arrest warrants” against the Franco-Algerian writer and journalist Kamel Daoud.
Christophe Lemoine affirmed that France “is following and will follow the development of this situation with attention,” emphasizing that Kamel Daoud is “a recognized and respected author” and that France is attached to freedom of expression.
This step comes after an Algerian court accepted an initial complaint last November against the writer and his psychiatrist wife for allegedly revealing and using a patient’s story in the writing of his novel “Houris,” which won the Prix Goncourt 2024, the most prestigious literary prize in France.
Two appeals had been filed against Daoud and his wife, who treated Saâda Arbane, a survivor of a massacre during Algeria’s “Black Decade” of civil war (1992-2002, 200,000 deaths).
Arbane filed a complaint accusing them of using her story without her consent, in addition to another complaint from the National Organization of Victims of Terrorism.
The issuance of an arrest warrant is part of the standard procedure according to the Algerian Code of Criminal Procedure. The law stipulates that “if the accused is on the run or resides outside the territory of the Republic,” the investigating judge may issue an international arrest warrant.
It is worth noting that Arbane has also filed a lawsuit against Daoud in France for invasion of privacy, with a first procedural hearing scheduled for Wednesday at the Paris Judicial Court.
Daoud stated in mid-December on the public radio station France Inter that this story was “public” in Algeria, but he also asserted that his novel “does not tell (the) life” of Arbane.
For its part, the publishing house Gallimard denounced the “violent and defamatory campaigns orchestrated (against the writer) by certain media outlets close to a regime whose nature is known to all.”
