The IPI global network strongly condemns the unfounded seven-year prison sentence served on the 29th of June, 2025, of French sports journalist Christophe Gleizes by a court in Algeria for “glorifying terrorism”. We urge the courts to reverse this decision and call on the authorities to immediately release Gleizes.
Gleizes, a contributor to the French publications So Foot and Society, has been held in Algeria since May 29, 2024 after being charged with “glorifying terrorism” and with possessing publications for propaganda purposes harmful to national interests.”
The charges are apparently related to Gleizes’s coverage of the Algerian football club JSK. According to reports, as part of his journalistic research Gleizes had previously been in contact with an influential figure in the club who is now the leader of a regional self-determination movement that Algeria has designated as a terrorist organization.
However, according to reports, nearly all of Gleizes’s exchanges with the individual took place years ago, prior to the terrorism designation, and the only contact since then concerned the football club.
Authorities arrested Gleizes after he travelled to Algeria in May 2024 to report on JSK’s successes in the 1980s.
The French government released a statement expressing its “deep regret” over Gleizes’ sentencing.
This incident is the latest in a series of escalating hostilities between the French and Algerian governments in the past year. In April 2025, France expelled 12 Algerian diplomats from Paris and recalled the French ambassador to Algeria after 12 French officials were forced to leave Algeria following the Algerian kidnapping of a political dissident living in Paris. In July 2024, tension arose when Macron emphasized French support for Moroccan sovereignty in Western Sahara, a disputed territory where Algeria backs the opposing Polisario Front.
Gleizes’ imprisonment comes after an Algerian appeals court upheld a five-year prison sentence for French-Algerian writer Boualem Sansal, despite repeated calls from the French government for his release. Sansal, who suffers from cancer and is 80 years old, has been arrested and imprisoned since he landed in Algiers in November 2024 for his criticism of the Algerian government. His supporters argue that he has effectively been held hostage by the Algerian government as fodder amid ongoing disputes with the French government.
“It is deeply alarming that the Algerian government and courts appear to be conflating journalistic research with glorifying terrorism”, IPI Executive Director Scott Griffen said. “We urge the Algerian authorities to ensure the swift release of Christophe Gleizes and allow him to return home after more than a year of unjust detention.”