Algeria has pardoned French-Algerian writer Boualem Sansal after a request from Germany, to where he will be transferred for medical treatment after a year in detention, it was announced Wednesday.

After German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier on Monday urged Algeria to free the 81-year-old, "the president of the republic decided to respond positively", the Algerian presidency said.

The statement said Germany would take charge of the transfer and treatment of Sansal, who has prostate cancer, according to his family.

Sansal was given a five-year jail term in March, accused of undermining Algeria's territorial integrity after he told a far-right French outlet last year that France had unjustly transferred Moroccan territory to Algeria during the 1830 to 1962 colonial period.

Algeria vie

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