French Towns Rally for Release of Imprisoned French Journalist in Algeria

Municipalities, regions, and departments across France have launched a nationwide campaign calling for the immediate release of French sports journalist Christophe Gleizes, who has been detained in Algeria since June 29, 2025, on charges that press freedom advocates say are unjust and politically motivated. The mobilization, coordinated with the support of Reporters Without Borders (RSF), reflects growing public and institutional concern over Gleizes’s imprisonment and broader issues of media freedom.

Gleizes, a 36-year-old freelance journalist and contributor to French outlets such as So Foot and Society, was arrested in Tizi Ouzou, in the Kabylie region of Algeria, in May 2024 while working on a football feature. Algerian courts later convicted him of “glorifying terrorism” and “possessing publications for propaganda purposes harmful to national interests” — charges widely condemned by rights groups as unfounded and as criminalising routine journalistic work. His seven-year prison sentence was upheld on appeal on December 3, 2025, extending a case that has inflamed debate in French and international media circles.

In response, dozens of French towns, including Bordeaux, Lyon, Lille, Montpellier, Nantes, Paris, and Versailles, together with entire regions such as Île-de-France and Nouvelle-Aquitaine, have displayed banners and posters urging his release. Local leaders have organised public speeches and joined calls emphasising that press freedom is a fundamental right and that detaining a journalist for doing his job sets a dangerous precedent.

The nationwide reaction is part of a broader campaign that gained momentum in mid-2025, featuring petitions that have garnered tens of thousands of signatures, support from high-profile public figures, and symbolic actions at major cultural and sporting events — including displays during the Tour de France and outreach by French football clubs. RSF officials have welcomed the momentum, saying such civic support not only advocates for Gleizes’s freedom but also defends the essential principle that “journalism is not a crime.”

French press freedom organisations, media associations, and civil society groups have repeatedly appealed to Algerian authorities to reconsider the conviction and to release Gleizes. They describe his detention as a serious breach of international norms protecting journalists and warn that cases like this can chill independent reporting when reporters risk severe punishment for covering social, cultural, or sporting stories abroad.

Gleizes’s case has also become part of wider diplomatic tensions between France and Algeria, with Paris’s foreign ministry publicly criticising the verdict and advocating for his release, underscoring how the fate of a journalist has resonated far beyond the newsroom.

Reference –

https://rsf.org/en/france-municipalities-organise-nationwide-release-christophe-gleizes-french-sports-journalist