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. Sources close to Sansal told AFP that the writer had "given up his right to appeal".

French journalists' unions on Tuesday called on Algeria to release a French football writer who has been jailed for seven years for supporting terrorism. Christophe Gleizes, who is 36, was sentenced on Sunday, after being found guilty of holding exchanges with a proponent of self-determination for Algeria's Kabyle minority.

A French journalist is facing seven years in prison in Algeria over an interview with a soccer official accused of ties to a banned separatist movement, in a case rights groups say criminalizes routine reporting.