Berliner Tageblatt - Writer Kamel Daoud sued in France over prizewinning book

In 2024, the French-Algerian writer won France's top literary prize, the Prix Goncourt, for his novel "Houris", centred on Algeria's civil war between the government and Islamists in the 1990s.

The novel, banned in Algeria, tells the story of a young woman who loses her voice when an Islamist cuts her throat as she witnesses her family being massacred during the civil war.

The woman, Saada Arbane, told Algerian television in November that the main character in the book is based on her experiences.

An initial court hearing in Paris is scheduled to take place on May 7, a source close to the case told AFP.

A summons was delivered to the writer's publisher Gallimard as well as the novelist himself during a book signing near the southwestern city of Bordeaux on Thursday.

Contacted by AFP, Gallimard declined to comment.

Daoud, 54, has denied his novel is based on Arbane's life.

According to a copy of the summons seen by AFP, Arbane is seeking 200,000 euros ($209,000) from Daoud, arguing that a "coincidental" resemblance is "totally unthinkable".

The 31-year-old woman says she told her story during a course of treatment with a psychotherapist who became Daoud's wife in 2016.

She accuses Daoud of using the details narrated during their therapy sessions in his book.

Arbane did not want her story to become public and "never gave her consent for her account to be used", according to the summons.

"This process, in the judicial history of invasion of privacy, under the guise of fiction, is absolutely exceptional," said William Bourdon and Lily Ravon, the plaintiff's lawyers.

Two complaints have already been filed in Algeria against Daoud and his wife.

Gallimard has defended Daoud and his wife, saying they were the victims of orchestrated attacks following the banning of the book in Algeria.

D.Schneider--BTB