PARIS: France’s President Emmanuel Macron will work toward the release of a French journalist in jail in Algeria “as soon as possible,” his office said Thursday, a day after an Algerian court confirmed his incarceration.
An appeals court upheld a seven-year prison term against Christophe Gleizes, a sports journalist who was jailed in June on terrorism-related charges.
Gleizes, 36, is France’s only journalist imprisoned abroad, according to Reporters Without Borders (RSF). His jailing comes at a time of diplomatic friction between France and its former colony Algeria.
Macron was “deeply worried” to learn the news, his office said.
“We will continue to engage with the Algerian authorities to secure his release and his return to France as soon as possible,” it added.
