Prosecuted in Algeria for his novel "Houris", winner of the Goncourt Prize in 2024, the Franco-Algerian writer Kamel Daoud announced on Wednesday that he had been sentenced to three years in prison and a fine of five million dinars.

Published on: 04/22/2026 - 4:57 p.m.

The Franco-Algerian writer Kamel Daoud announced on Wednesday April 22 that he had been sentenced to three years in prison and a fine of five million dinars in Algeria, where he was being prosecuted for his novel "Houris", winner of the Goncourt Prize in 2024.

“Unique fact in Algerian history: the verdict of the trial of April 7, 2026 fell on April 21. I am sentenced to three years in prison and a fine of five million Algerian dinars, in application of the Charter for Peace and National Reconciliation,” indicates the author in a message published on the social network X.

In November 2024, an Algerian court accepted a first complaint against the writer and his psychiatrist wife for having revealed and used the story of a patient for the writing of his novel “Houris”.

Two appeals were then filed against Kamel Daoud and his wife, who treated Saâda Arbane, survivor of a massacre during the dark decade of civil war in Algeria.

Two international arrest warrants

“Houris”, which in the Muslim faith designates young girls promised to paradise, is a dark novel taking place partly in Oran on the fate of Aube, a young woman who has been mute since an Islamist slit her throat on December 31, 1999.

It cannot be published in Algeria because it falls under a law prohibiting any work on the black decade between 1992 and 2002, which left at least 200,000 dead, according to official figures.

Kamel Daoud is also the subject of two international arrest warrants issued by Algeria in May 2025.

The novel is also the subject of proceedings before the French courts for non-respect of private life.

With AFP

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