French Journalism Schools Rally for Release of Reporter Imprisoned in Algeria

September 29, 2025 – France – 

Sixteen French journalism schools have launched an unprecedented joint campaign calling for the immediate release of Christophe Gleizes, a French sports reporter currently serving a prison sentence in Algeria. The initiative, endorsed by RSF (Reporters Without Borders), seeks to intensify public pressure and draw global attention to his case.

Gleizes, 36, who contributes to So Foot and Society, was arrested in May 2024 while reporting on Algeria’s JS Kabylie football club and its connections to political figures. In June 2025, a court convicted him on charges of “glorifying terrorism” and “possessing propaganda publications harmful to national interests,” handing him a seven-year prison term.

In a symbolic display of solidarity, the Conference of Journalism Schools (CEJ)—which represents 15 nationally recognized institutions—and the Nantes Center for Journalism began coordinated actions on September 29. Across multiple university cities, journalism schools will host conferences, exhibit banners, hold public readings of Gleizes’ work, and organize events featuring journalists familiar with his reporting.

This campaign complements efforts already underway by RSF, which has launched a petition garnering over 20,000 signatures and drawn attention during high-profile sporting events such as the Tour de France. RSF underscores that Gleizes is the only French journalist currently detained abroad—and that no French media professional has faced a harsher sentence in over a decade.

In statements supporting the campaign, CEJ leaders stressed that convicting Gleizes amounts to an assault on the education of journalists themselves. Pas­cal Guénée, CEJ’s international vice-president, argued that training professionals to report with rigor, freedom, and responsibility becomes hollow if one of their own is punished for doing just that.

RSF and allied organizations continue to demand that Algerian authorities respect international commitments to press freedom and free Gleizes unconditionally. They warn that his detention marks a dangerous precedent: punishing a journalist for standard investigative work.

As the campaign unfolds, the broader media community watches closely. The coordinated action from France’s journalism schools sends a strong message: the attack on one of their own is an attack on journalism itself—and demands resistance.

Reference – 

https://rsf.org/en/french-journalism-schools-campaign-release-french-reporter-jailed-algeria