France's justice minister to visit Algeria amid diplomatic thaw

France's justice minister will head to Algeria next week to discuss improving cooperation and the fate of a detained French journalist, his office said Saturday, as ties warm following a diplomatic spat.

"The purpose of this trip is to work on opening a new chapter in judicial cooperation," Justice Minister Gerald Darmanin's office said of the trip planned for Monday.

But jailed reporter Christophe Gleizes would also be a "major topic," it said.

Gleizes, 37, was arrested in May 2024 while reporting on a football club in Algeria's Kabylia region and sentenced to seven years in jail in June last year for "glorifying terrorism".

Relations between France and its former colony became rocky after Paris in 2024 officially backed Moroccan sovereignty over the disputed Western Sahara region, where Algeria supports the pro-independence Polisario Front.

But France and Algeria agreed in February to restart security cooperation as Interior Minister Laurent Nunez visited Algiers, marking the first sign of a thaw in diplomatic ties.

After deputy defence minister Alice Rufo met President Abdelmadjid Tebboune last week, France's ambassador to the North African country returned to his post after being recalled about a year ago at the height of the dispute.

Gleizes, the journalist, on Monday received his first visit from a diplomat since his detention.

His mother has said she hopes for "very positive developments on Christophe's return to France" by the end of the month, after he dropped an appeal with Algeria's top court, hoping for a presidential pardon.