Family of French journalist sentenced in Algeria pleads for help from soccer great Zidane

PARIS (AP) — The family of a French sports journalist who has been sentenced to seven years in prison in Algeria is calling for help from the sporting world and soccer great Zinédine Zidane.

Christophe Gleizes, a 36-year-old freelance sportswriter, was sentenced last week over an interview with a soccer official accused of ties to a banned separatist movement, in a case rights groups say criminalizes routine reporting.

Gleizes was arrested and placed under judicial supervision more than a year ago for entering Algeria without a proper visa, “glorifying terrorism,” and “possessing propaganda publications harmful to the national interest,” Reporters Without Borders said last week.

Gleizes’ relatives were invited to speak on French television on Thursday night and called on sports personalities to support his case.

“It would be great if Zinédine Zidane were to get involved in this fight,” Gleizes’ father in law, Francis Godard, told France 2 channel. “After all, it’s a fight for both freedom of the press and the world of football. Journalists are mobilized, as we know, but we would like the sporting world to be just as mobilized. Christophe is a sports journalist and is therefore interested in the business of sport. This concerns the world of sport very directly.”

Gleizes was tried and convicted, although prosecutors have not publicly announced the charges and Algerian officials have not commented on the case.

However, authorities have in the past faced criticism from rights advocates who say Algeria uses anti-terrorism laws to target political speech.

Press freedom group Reporters Without Borders said the charges against Gleizes stemmed from contact he had with the head of a soccer club who was also a member of a political movement that Algeria designated as a terrorist group four years ago.

The French journalist’s sentence came as relations between France and Algeria reach new levels of hostility. The two countries are sparring over migration, extradition, trade and France’s change in position over the status of the disputed Western Sahara.

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