{"id":11668,"date":"2026-05-05T10:36:17","date_gmt":"2026-05-05T10:36:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/11668\/"},"modified":"2026-05-05T10:36:17","modified_gmt":"2026-05-05T10:36:17","slug":"jailed-french-sports-journalist-drops-algeria-appeal-in-hopes-of-presidential-pardon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/11668\/","title":{"rendered":"Jailed French sports journalist drops Algeria appeal in hopes of presidential pardon"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">French sports journalist Christophe Gleizes, who is currently <a data-yga=\"{\" ylinkelement=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/uk.news.yahoo.com\/algerian-court-upholds-seven-prison-220057176.html\" data-ylk=\"elm:link;elmt:article_link;slk:serving a seven-year jail sentence;itc:0;sec:content-canvas;outcm:mb_qualified_link;_E:mb_qualified_link;ct:story;\" class=\"link  yahoo-link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">serving a seven-year jail sentence<\/a> in <a data-yga=\"{\" ylinkelement=\"\" class=\"link \" href=\"https:\/\/www.france24.com\/en\/tag\/algeria\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"elm:link;elmt:article_link;slk:Algeria;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\">Algeria<\/a>, has withdrawn his appeal to the country\u2019s highest court, paving the way for a possible pardon from President <a data-yga=\"{\" ylinkelement=\"\" class=\"link \" href=\"https:\/\/www.france24.com\/en\/tag\/abdelmadjid-tebboune\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"elm:link;elmt:article_link;slk:Abdelmadjid Tebboune;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\">Abdelmadjid Tebboune<\/a>, his family announced on Tuesday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">\u201cWe have taken the decision (&#8230;) that Christophe should withdraw his appeal to the Court of Cassation,\u201d the journalist\u2019s mother, Sylvie Godard, told radio station <a data-yga=\"{\" ylinkelement=\"\" class=\"link \" href=\"https:\/\/www.france24.com\/en\/tag\/france\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"elm:link;elmt:article_link;slk:France;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\">France<\/a> Inter.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">\u201cHe is placing his complete trust in President Tebboune\u2019s clemency. It is a very powerful, symbolic gesture,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Read more<a data-yga=\"{\" ylinkelement=\"\" class=\"link  yahoo-link\" href=\"https:\/\/uk.news.yahoo.com\/mother-jailed-french-journalist-appeals-065302261.html\" data-ylk=\"elm:link;elmt:article_link;slk:Mother of jailed French journalist appeals to Algerian president for pardon;itc:0;sec:content-canvas;outcm:mb_qualified_link;_E:mb_qualified_link;ct:story;\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Mother of jailed French journalist appeals to Algerian president for pardon<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Gleizes\u2019 family hopes that \u201cimproved relations between France and Algeria\u201d will work in the journalist\u2019s favour and secure his release, his father-in-law Francis Godard said, adding that a \u201cclimate of hostility\u201d between the two countries had contributed to his imprisonment.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">France\u2019s Home Secretary Laurent Nunez visited Algeria in mid-February, where he was received by President Tebboune.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The visit helped to initiate a thaw in bilateral relations between the two countries, which have been in crisis since the summer of 2024.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Gleizes was arrested in 2024 when authorities said he entered the country on a tourist visa while reporting on JS Kabylie football team.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">JS Kabylie is historically Algeria\u2019s most dominant team, whose successes are enmeshed in the movement to win cultural recognition for the Amazigh minority.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Gleizes was convicted of violating Algeria\u2019s anti-terrorism laws and possessing publications intended for propaganda, in a case lambasted by rights groups and French media.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Read more<a data-yga=\"{\" ylinkelement=\"\" class=\"link \" href=\"https:\/\/www.france24.com\/en\/supporters-of-french-journalist-imprisoned-in-algeria-to-rally-in-paris\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"elm:link;elmt:article_link;slk:Supporters of French journalist imprisoned in Algeria rally at Bataclan hall in Paris;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\">Supporters of French journalist imprisoned in Algeria rally at Bataclan hall in Paris<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">He is the only French journalist imprisoned worldwide, according to French <a data-yga=\"{\" ylinkelement=\"\" class=\"link \" href=\"https:\/\/www.france24.com\/en\/tag\/media\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"elm:link;elmt:article_link;slk:media;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\">media<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The charges stemmed from contact Gleizes had with the head of a soccer club who was also a member of a political movement that Algeria had designated as a terrorist group, Reporters Without Borders said at the time.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">(FRANCE 24 with AP and AFP)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"French sports journalist Christophe Gleizes, who is currently serving a seven-year jail sentence in Algeria, has withdrawn his&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":11669,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[8936,4725,5,8938,8940,8937,8939],"class_list":["post-11668","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-france","tag-abdelmadjid-tebboune","tag-algeria","tag-france","tag-french-media","tag-president-tebboune","tag-sports-journalist","tag-sylvie-godard"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11668","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11668"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11668\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11669"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11668"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11668"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11668"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}