Daoud was convicted under the Charter for Peace and National Reconciliation, a text adopted by referendum in 2005 that offers widespread pardons to both armed Islamists and security forces. The book 'Houris' focuses on the victims of what Algerians call the 'black decade', when tens of thousands of people were killed as the army fought an Islamist insurgency. The conflict erupted in 1991 after Islamists won a first round of legislative elections, prompting the military-backed government to cancel the second round of voting.
In addition to the prison sentence, Daoud is the target of two international arrest warrants issued by Algeria in May 2025 and is under threat of being stripped of his Algerian nationality. The legal action against him was brought by the court in the Algerian city of Oran. It remains unclear what specific content in 'Houris' led to the conviction under the Charter for Peace and National Reconciliation, and the details of the two international arrest warrants have not been disclosed.
The text punishes any public mention of the civil war.
The current status of Daoud's Algerian nationality and the process for stripping it are also unknown, and there has been no official Algerian government response or statement regarding his sentencing. 'Houris' was awarded the Goncourt Prize, France's top literary award, in 2024. Another French-Algerian writer, Boualem Sansal, has faced similar problems, having been convicted of undermining national unity and insulting public institutions and sentenced to five years in prison under Algeria's anti-terrorism laws.
Sansal's works have been critical of Islam, colonialism, and contemporary Algerian leaders. He was granted a humanitarian pardon in Algeria after an appeal by Germany's president and returned to France last year after serving a year in prison. The specific charges or legal basis for Sansal's conviction under anti-terrorism laws have not been detailed.
Ten years of war, nearly 200,000 dead according to estimates, thousands of terrorists granted amnesty … and only one guilty party: a writer.
The case highlights ongoing tensions between artistic expression and state authority in Algeria, with Daoud's sentencing drawing international attention to the country's legal framework for handling sensitive historical narratives.