Algeria's prosecutor general sought at an appeal hearing on Tuesday, June 24, 10 years in prison for writer Boualem Sansal, doubling his current sentence. The dual French-Algerian writer, whose case has been at the heart of a diplomatic row between the two countries, was sentenced to five years imprisonment on March 27.
Sansal, known for his criticism of Algerian authorities as well as of Islamists, 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 echoed a long-standing Moroccan claim, and was viewed by Algeria as an affront to its national sovereignty.
On March 27, a court in Dar El Beida sentenced him to a five-year prison term and fined him 500,000 Algerian dinars ($3,730).
French President Emmanuel Macron has urged his Algerian counterpart Abdelmadjid Tebboune to show "mercy and humanity" towards Sansal, while Algiers insists the writer has been afforded due process.
Sansal's conviction and sentence further frayed ties between Paris and Algiers, already strained by migration issues and Macron's recognition last year of Moroccan sovereignty over the disputed territory of Western Sahara, which is claimed by the Algeria-backed pro-independence Polisario Front.