The writer Kamel Daoud, accused of having stolen the story of a woman to write « Houris », denounces « a form of judicial persecution » – Liberation
Aimed by two international arrest warrants issued by Algeria and a complaint in France, Kamel Daoud denounced Monday May 12 in Le Figaro « A form of judicial persecution ». The writer is accused by a woman of having stolen her story For his novel Houris, Winner of the Goncourt Prize in 2024.
Kamel Daoud also considered that these prosecution was « A way to lock it in a labyrinth of procedures ». Algerian justice has indeed launched Two international arrest warrants Against the author and his wife in order to have them judged for violation of the private life of an Algerian complainant, who accuses them of having used the story of his life to Houris (Gallimard).
This complainant, Saâda Arbane, is a survivor of a massacre during the black decade in Algeria, tormented by the civil war. In his assignment, which is supported by numerous certificates, Saâda Arbane requires 200,000 euros in damages as well as advertising of the possible conviction because a « A fortuitous character » resemblance is « Totally unthinkable ». The text says that the complainant was followed between 2015 and 2023 in consultation by a psychiatrist who became Kamel Daoud in 2016, Aicha Dahdouh.
Behind this legal proceedings, « I am not trying to censor a writer, I try to have real and very serious damage recognized »she explained in an interview granted Sunday, May 11 to AFP.
For his part, learning to be targeted by these arrest warrants, Kamel Daoud had immediately indicated by the voice of his lawyer that he was going to challenge them with Interpol. Civil procedure for the same reason is in progress before the Paris court. A first procedural hearing took place on Wednesday May 14 and the next will take place on September 10.
Kamel Daoud refutes any accusation. He said in mid-December on France Inter that “Everyone knows (this) story in Algeria, and especially in Oran. It’s a public story « . « The fact that she recognizes herself in a novel that does not quote her, which does not tell her life, which does not tell the details of her life, I am sorry »had continued the writer.
Houris, Who designates in the Muslim faith young girls promised in paradise, is a dark novel taking place partly in Oran on the destiny of Aube, a young silent woman since an Islamist decided her throat on December 31, 1999.
The novel cannot be published in Algeria because it falls under a law prohibiting any work on the dark decade, which took place between 1992 and 2002 and left at least 200,000 dead, according to official figures.
