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.

Seven and a half months after his arrest in Algiers, Boualem Sansal was sentenced to five years in prison. His fate has become central to the diplomatic rift that has pitted Paris and Algiers against each other for several months.