Algeria has issued two arrest warrants for acclaimed French-Algerian writer Kamel Daoud, the French foreign ministry said on Wednesday, May 7, as tensions surge between the two countries. The Algerian judiciary informed France of the move, foreign ministry spokesman Christophe Lemoine said. "We are monitoring and will continue to monitor developments in this situation closely," he said, stressing that Daoud was "a renowned and respected author" and that France was committed to freedom of expression.
In 2024, Daoud won France's top literary prize, the Prix Goncourt, for his novel Houris centered on Algeria's civil war between the government and Islamists in the 1990s. The novel, banned in Algeria, tells the story of a young woman who loses her voice when an Islamist cuts her throat as she witnesses her family being massacred during the war.
In November, the woman, Saâda Arbane, told Algerian television, using a speech aid, that the main character in the book is based on her experiences. Daoud, 54, has denied his novel is based on Arbane's life. Arbane says she told her story during a course of treatment with a psychotherapist who became Daoud's wife in 2016. She has accused Daoud of then using the details narrated during their therapy sessions in his book.
The warrants were issued after Arbane filed a complaint against the writer with a court in Algeria. Arbane is also suing Daoud in France for invasion of privacy. A preliminary hearing is set to take place in Paris on Wednesday.
The writer's publisher Gallimard has defended Daoud and his wife, saying they were the victims of orchestrated attacks following the banning of the book in Algeria.
The writer's French publisher Gallimard has defended Daoud and Algeria, its former colony, especially after Paris last year recognized Moroccan sovereignty over the disputed Western Sahara, where Algeria backs the pro-independence Polisario Front.