#FreeGleizes: RSF mobilises to secure release of French sports journalist wrongly imprisoned in Algeria

Christophe Gleizes travelled to Algeria in May 2024 to report on the golden era of the local football club, Jeunesse Sportive de Kabylie (JSK), during the 1980s. He had also planned to cover the commemorations marking the tenth anniversary of the death of Cameroonian JSK player Albert Ebossé, and was on assignments for So Foot to interview Mouloudia Club d’Alger coach Patrice Beaumelle and write a profile of footballer Salah Djebaïli.

Christophe Gleizes’ seven-year prison sentence is the most severe sentence imposed on a French journalist in more than a decade, according to RSF information. In 2010, journalist Daniel Lainé received a similar sentence after reporting on sex tourism in Cambodia for the French TV channel TF1 before being acquitted in 2014. According to RSF data, around one hundred journalists worldwide have been targeted for reporting on issues related to sports, with two still imprisoned today.

Sign the petition to free Christophe Gleizes

There is no justification for imprisoning a journalist for delivering trustworthy news. Sign the petition calling for his immediate release and help us #FreeGleizes.

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