French journalist held in Algeria drops appeal, hoping for pardon

The mother of a French sports journalist jailed in Algeria on terror charges he denies Tuesday said he had dropped his appeal to the country's top court, hoping for a presidential pardon.

Christophe Gleizes, 37, was sentenced to seven years in jail in June last year for "glorifying terrorism".

An appeals court upheld that decision in December, and his lawyers initially sought a new trial with the country's highest court.

Gleizes's mother, Sylvie Godard, also wrote a letter to Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune asking him to pardon her son.

Godard said Tuesday her son had now withdrawn his appeal.

"He is placing himself entirely at the mercy of President (Abdelmadjid) Tebboune so that he may show clemency," she told journalists.

Relations between France and its former colony became rocky after Paris in 2024 officially backed Moroccan sovereignty over the disputed Western Sahara region, where Algeria supports the pro-independence Polisario Front.

But France and Algeria agreed in February to restart security cooperation as French Interior Minister Laurent Nunez visited Algiers, marking the first sign of a thaw in diplomatic ties.

Gleizes was arrested in May 2024 while travelling to northeastern Algeria's Kabylia region to write about the country's most decorated football club, Jeunesse Sportive de Kabylie.

He was accused of having been in contact with a local football figure prominent in the Movement for the Self-Determination of Kabylie (MAK), a foreign-based group that Algiers has designated as "terrorist".

Gleizes said at an appeals hearing he did not know the MAK had been listed as a terrorist group.

Tebboune last year pardoned French-Algerian novelist Boualem Sansal after a year-long imprisonment in Algeria, following comments the writer made on Western Sahara.