00:00A court in Algeria has sentenced award-winning writer Kamel Daoud and his wife to five years
00:07in prison in absentia over allegations of breaching, medical confidentiality and invading privacy.
00:14The case centres on Daoud's novel, Ruis, which won France's prestigious Prix Goncourt in 2024.
00:22An Algerian woman accused Daoud of using details of her life without consent,
00:27information she says she shared with his wife, who was her former psychotherapist.
00:33Daoud has denied using confidential information, while his wife has also rejected any wrongdoing.
00:39The novel tells the story of a woman who loses her voice during Algeria's bloody civil war in the 1990s.
00:46The latest sentence comes after Daoud was handed a separate three-year prison sentence over the same novel in April.
