PARIS — Algeria has agreed to a German proposal to pardon and release from jail acclaimed writer Boualem Sansal amid a diplomatic spat between Paris and Algiers.

German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier on Monday urged Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune to pardon the 81-year-old Sansal, who suffers from cancer, and transfer him to Germany for medical treatment.

His pardon was then announced in a statement by the Algerian presidency on Wednesday.

French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu said in parliament that he was relieved by the news and “thanked from the bottom of his heart those who worked towards this release.”

Sansal, a Franco-Algerian dual national and a vocal critic of the Algerian regime, was jailed last November on charges of undermining national unity.

His incarceration was met with outrage in France, where he has been seen as a political hostage amid worsening relations between the two countries. France triggered furor in Algeria when it recognized Morocco’s sovereignty over the disputed territory of Western Sahara in the summer of 2024.

However, the head of France’s foreign intelligence service said in an interview on French radio Monday that he was seeing signs Algeria wanted to “renew the dialogue” with France.

France has repeatedly called for Sansal’s release since his arrest, with French President Emmanuel Macron going as far as saying that Algeria was “dishonoring” itself in imprisoning him.

But Algeria’s decision to respond to a German request for Sansal’s release, rather than a French one, is bound to raise eyebrows in Paris.