PARIS: A prominent French sports journalist sentenced to seven years in prison in Algeria at the end of June is in “fighting mood” but feels “isolated,” his parents told AFP after visiting their son earlier this month.
Christophe Gleizes, who is being held in the city of Tizi Ouzou, is being detained against the background of escalating political tensions between Paris and its former north African colony.
“Even if his morale is high, even if he is in fighting mood, he feels completely cut off from the world, isolated,” his mother, Sylvie Godard, told AFP in an interview at the Paris offices of media rights campaigners Reporters Without Borders (RSF).
Along with his stepfather, Francis, she is calling for the case of her son, the only French journalist currently detained abroad, not to be used to “settle political scores” between France and Algeria.
Gleizes, who specializes in African football and contributes to the top-selling So Foot magazine, was convicted in Algeria of “glorifying terrorism,” a charge his parents said was “totally absurd.”
An appeal has been filed and is expected to be heard in the autumn.
Algeria has also jailed French-Algerian writer Boualem Sansal, sentenced to five years for damaging national unity.
As well as these two cases, there have been tit-for-tat expulsions of consular staff.
President Emmanuel Macron angered Algiers in July 2024 when he backed Moroccan sovereignty over the disputed Western Sahara, where Algeria supports the pro-independence Polisario Front.
Francis Godard described his stepson as a “kind of collateral victim of the bad relations between France and Algeria at the moment.”
“We don’t want Christophe’s case to be used to resolve political issues with which Christophe has nothing to do,” said Sylvie Godard.
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French sports journalist ‘isolated’ in Algeria prison
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French sports journalist ‘isolated’ in Algeria prison
- Christophe Gleizes, who is being held in the city of Tizi Ouzou, is being detained against the background of escalating political tensions between Paris and its former north African colony
- Gleizes, who specializes in African football and contributes to the top selling So Foot magazine, was convicted in Algeria of “glorifying terrorism,” a charge his parents said was “totally absurd”
Turkiye arrests two on charges of spying for Israel
- Security sources said Mehmet Budak Derya and Veysel Kerimoglu had been arrested in Istanbul
- They had long been on the radar of Turkiye’s MIT intelligence agency
ISTANBUL: Turkish intelligence has arrested two people on suspicion of spying for Israel’s Mossad and providing information that helped the spy agency target its enemies, state news agency Anadolu reported Friday.
Security sources said Mehmet Budak Derya and Veysel Kerimoglu had been arrested in Istanbul, saying they had long been on the radar of Turkiye’s MIT intelligence agency.
Derya, a mining engineer, allegedly first caught the attention of Mossad in 2005 when he opened a marble quarry near the southern coastal city of Mersin and began trading overseas, first contacting him via an individual called Ali Ahmed Yassin in 2012, the sources said.
Investigators said Yassin, who ran an Israeli shell company, invited Derya for a business meeting in Europe in 2013 which is where he allegedly first met Mossad agents, they said.
During the meeting, they discussed the marble trade and suggested he hire a Turkish citizen of Palestinian origin called Veysel Kerimoglu, they said.
The men became friends and allegedly began sharing information with Mossad, who paid Kerimoglu’s salary, they said.
Through Kerimoglu, Derya is alleged to have increased his Middle Eastern activities, building social and commercial ties with Palestinians opposed to Israel’s policies and allegedly sharing information about them with Mossad.
The men are also alleged to have sent through technical information and photos of premises they were looking to acquire, notably in Gaza.
In early 2016, Kerimoglu is alleged to have suggested to Derya to begin supplying drone parts, with the businessman making contact with Mohamed Zouari who was killed in Tunisia later that year, allegedly by Mossad, investigators said.
Zouari — an engineer who specialized in drone development for the Palestinian Hamas movement — was gunned down in his car in the eastern city of Sfax in December 2016.
Late last year, a Tunisian a court convicted 18 people in absentia over his murder.
Derya is alleged to have used an encrypted communication system to send technical data to his handlers, and underwent two lie detector tests in 2016 and 2024.
He was arrested while trying to set up a company that would have overseen three Asian shell companies whose aim was allegedly to hide the origins of various products that would have been supplied to buyers on Mossad’s radar.
The plan was allegedly discussed in detail at their last meeting in January.
Both suspects are currently being questioned by police, they said.
Security sources said Mehmet Budak Derya and Veysel Kerimoglu had been arrested in Istanbul, saying they had long been on the radar of Turkiye’s MIT intelligence agency.
Derya, a mining engineer, allegedly first caught the attention of Mossad in 2005 when he opened a marble quarry near the southern coastal city of Mersin and began trading overseas, first contacting him via an individual called Ali Ahmed Yassin in 2012, the sources said.
Investigators said Yassin, who ran an Israeli shell company, invited Derya for a business meeting in Europe in 2013 which is where he allegedly first met Mossad agents, they said.
During the meeting, they discussed the marble trade and suggested he hire a Turkish citizen of Palestinian origin called Veysel Kerimoglu, they said.
The men became friends and allegedly began sharing information with Mossad, who paid Kerimoglu’s salary, they said.
Through Kerimoglu, Derya is alleged to have increased his Middle Eastern activities, building social and commercial ties with Palestinians opposed to Israel’s policies and allegedly sharing information about them with Mossad.
The men are also alleged to have sent through technical information and photos of premises they were looking to acquire, notably in Gaza.
In early 2016, Kerimoglu is alleged to have suggested to Derya to begin supplying drone parts, with the businessman making contact with Mohamed Zouari who was killed in Tunisia later that year, allegedly by Mossad, investigators said.
Zouari — an engineer who specialized in drone development for the Palestinian Hamas movement — was gunned down in his car in the eastern city of Sfax in December 2016.
Late last year, a Tunisian a court convicted 18 people in absentia over his murder.
Derya is alleged to have used an encrypted communication system to send technical data to his handlers, and underwent two lie detector tests in 2016 and 2024.
He was arrested while trying to set up a company that would have overseen three Asian shell companies whose aim was allegedly to hide the origins of various products that would have been supplied to buyers on Mossad’s radar.
The plan was allegedly discussed in detail at their last meeting in January.
Both suspects are currently being questioned by police, they said.
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