AFP Asia Business

French writer jailed in Algeria won’t appeal, still hopeful of pardon: supporters

French-Algerian writer Boualem Sansal will not appeal his five-year prison sentence to Algeria’s supreme court, said sources close to the author on Saturday, saying they remain hopeful for a pardon.The 80-year-old dual national writer was sentenced to five years behind bars on March 27 on charges related to undermining Algeria’s territorial integrity over comments made to a French media outlet.”According to our information, he will not appeal to the supreme court,” the president of the author’s support committee, Noelle Lenoir, told broadcaster France Inter on Saturday.”Moreover, given the state of the justice system in Algeria…he has no chance of having his offence reclassified on appeal,” the former European affairs minister said.”This means that the sentence is final.”Sources close to Sansal told AFP that the writer had “given up his right to appeal”.His French lawyer, Pierre Cornut-Gentille, declined to comment when contacted by AFP.France’s prime minister Francois Bayrou said earlier this week that he hoped Algeria would pardon the author, whose family has highlighted his treatment for prostate cancer.But Sansal was not among the thousands pardoned by Algeria’s president on Friday, the eve of the country’s independence day.”We believe he will be released. It is impossible for Algeria to take responsibility for his death in prison,” Lenoir said, adding she was “remaining hopeful”.A prize-winning figure in North African modern francophone literature, Sansal is known for his criticism of Algerian authorities as well as of Islamists.The case against him arose after he told the far-right outlet Frontieres that France had unjustly transferred Moroccan territory to Algeria during the colonial period from 1830 to 1962 — a claim Algeria views as a challenge to its sovereignty and that aligns with longstanding Moroccan territorial assertions.Sansal was detained in November 2024 upon arrival at Algiers airport. On March 27, a court in Dar El Beida sentenced him to a five-year prison term and fined him 500,000 Algerian dinars ($3,730).Appearing in court without legal counsel on June 24, Sansal said the case against him “makes no sense” as “the Algerian constitution guarantees freedom of expression and conscience”.The writer’s conviction has further strained tense France-Algeria relations, which have been complicated by issues such as migration and France’s recognition of Moroccan sovereignty over Western Sahara, a disputed territory claimed by the Algeria-backed Polisario Front.

Eight OPEC+ alliance members move toward output hike at meeting

Saudi Arabia, Russia and six other key members of the OPEC+ alliance will discuss crude production on Saturday, with analysts expecting the latest in a series of output hikes for August.The wider OPEC+ group — comprising the 12-nation Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and its allies — began output cuts in 2022 in a bid to prop up prices.But in a policy shift, eight alliance members spearheaded by Saudi Arabia surprised markets by announcing they would significantly raise production from May, sending oil prices plummeting.Oil prices have been hovering around a low $65-$70 per barrel.Representatives of Saudi Arabia, Russia, Iraq, United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Kazakhstan, Algeria and Oman will take part in Saturday’s meeting, expected to be held by video.Analysts expect the so-called “Voluntary Eight” (V8) nations to decide on another output increase of 411,000 barrels per day (bpd) — the same target approved for May, June and July.   The group has placed an “increased focus on regaining market shares over price stability,” said Saxo Bank analyst Ole Hansen.- Enforcing quotas -The group will likely justify its decision by officially referring to “low inventories and solid demand as reasons for the faster unwind of the production cuts”, UBS analyst Giovanni Staunovo told AFP.But the failure of some OPEC member countries, such as Kazakhstan and Iraq, to stick to their output quotas, is “a factor supporting the decision”, he added.By approving another output hike, heavyweight Saudi Arabia might seek to up pressure on members for not keeping to agreed quotas via slashing expected oil profits due to lower prices.According to Jorge Leon, an analyst at Rystad Energy, an output hike of 411,000 bpd will translate into “around 250,000 or 300,000” actual barrels. An estimate by Bloomberg showed that the alliance’s production increased by only 200,000 bpd in May, despite doubling the quotas.- No effect from Israel-Iran war -Analysts expect no major effect on current oil prices, as another output hike is widely anticipated. The meeting comes after a 12-day conflict between Iran and Israel, which briefly sent prices above $80 a barrel amid concerns over a possible closing of the strategic Strait of Hormuz, a chokepoint for about one-fifth of the world’s oil supply.As fears of a wider Middle East conflict have eased, and given there “were no supply disruptions so far”, the war is “unlikely to impact the decision” of the alliance, Staunovo added.The Israel-Iran conflict “if anything supports a continued rapid production increase in the unlikely event Iran’s ability to produce and export get disrupted,” Hansen told AFP.