An Algerian court has sentenced the Franco-Algerian novelist Kamel Daoud to three years in prison and a fine of five million Algerian dinars.
The ruling, which was delivered in absentia on April 21, 2026, was disclosed by the author via his social media account. Daoud, who won the 2024 Goncourt Prize for his novel Houris, noted that the conviction was issued under the Charter for Peace and National Reconciliation following a trial earlier in the month.
The legal proceedings stem from a complaint initially accepted by an Algerian court in November 2024 against the writer and his wife, a psychiatrist. The allegations suggest that the couple disclosed and utilized the private life story of a patient, Saâda Arbane, to form the narrative basis of the novel. Arbane is a survivor of a massacre from Algeria’s “Black Decade” civil war, a period that serves as the backdrop for Houris, which follows the tragic journey of a young woman named Aube who was left mute after a violent attack in 1999.
This sentencing adds to the significant legal pressure facing the author, who has been living in France. In addition to the prison term and fine, Daoud remains the subject of two international arrest warrants issued by Algerian authorities in May 2025. The case highlights the ongoing tension between literary expression and national laws regarding the sensitive history of the country’s civil war era.
AK/Sf/lb/abj/APA