Patient sues Algerian author over claims he used her in prize novel

Antoine Gallimard, of the publishing firm, said that the writer was being made “the target of a campaign of violent defamation orchestrated by certain media close to the Algerian government.

“Houris was certainly inspired by the tragic events which happened in Algeria … but its plot, its characters and its heroine are purely fictional.”

The lawsuits against Daoud and his wife were made public in Algeria on Wednesday by lawyer Fatima Benbraham, a woman described by Le Monde newspaper as a “fervent supporter of the regime”.

She said the lawsuits were filed in August, shortly after the book’s publication, but were only revealed now “because the plaintiffs did not want it to be said that they were trying to upset the [book’s] nomination for the Goncourt.”

The row comes at a time of worsening tensions between Algeria and France, triggered by President Emmanuel Macron’s recent recognition of Moroccan sovereignty over the disputed territory of Western Sahara.

Algeria is the historic backer of the Polisario independence movement.

Macron’s move angered many Algerians, who view the award to Daoud as a political rather than a literary gesture.

Another award-winning French-based Algerian writer Boualel Sansal was on Thursday reported to have gone missing in Algeria, amid fears he has been arrested.

Sansal, 75, obtained French nationality earlier this year but returned regularly to Algeria. He is known as a critic of the Algerian regime as well as of Islamism.

He flew to Algiers from Paris on Saturday. His editor Jean-François Colosimo said he had not been heard from since then.

“I am more than worried,” Mr Colosimo said.