PARIS.- Karim Benzema filed a complaint this Tuesday for defamation against the French Minister of the Interior, Gerald Darmaninwhich accused him of having “notorious” links with the Islamic organization Muslim Brothersaccording to the complaint, consulted by AFP.
The gold ball “Karim Benzema has notorious links, we all know it, with the Muslim Brothers“, declared the minister on October 16 on the CNews television network.
Darmanin thus reacted to a publication on X (ex-Twitter) by the French footballer, who directed “all (your) prayers to the inhabitants of Gaza, victims once again of unjust bombings that spare neither women nor children“.
Two days after the minister’s accusation, Benzema’s lawyer categorically denied the link.
“That is false! Karim Benzema has never had the slightest relationship with this organization,” the lawyer reacted in a statement. Hugues Vigier.
“Praying on October 15 for civilian populations under bombs that spare neither women nor children does not constitute, evidently, either ‘propaganda for Hamas‘, nor ‘complicity with terrorism, nor acts of collaboration,'” said the forward’s lawyer, who was then considering filing a complaint against the politician for defamation or public insult.
In the lawyer’s opinion, “once again to an intolerable instrumentation of Karim Benzema and the symbolic figure usually attributed to him“.
The complaint, filed by Vigier, He points out that these statements “undermine” his honor and reputation. She was presented before the Court of Justice of the Republic (CJR), the only jurisdiction authorized to prosecute and try members of the government for infractions committed in the exercise of their functions.
In his complaint, Benzema, who now plays for the Saudi club Al-Ittihad, reaffirms that “he has never had the slightest connection with the organization Muslim Brothers“.
“I see to what extent I am, due to my notoriety, instrumentalized in political games, even more scandalous if we take into account the dramatic events that have occurred since October 7, who deserve anything other than these statements“, he pointed.
Signals towards Benzema:
In October, Darmanin’s team, contacted by AFP, said: “For several years, We see a slow drift in Karim Benzema’s position towards a harsh, rigorous Islam“.
The player’s refusal to sing the Marseillaise during his matches with the national team France, his “proselytizing on social networks about Muslim worship, such as fasting, prayer, the pilgrimage to Mecca” or his “support for the publication of the Russian MMA fighter, Khabib Nurmagomedova real call to hate after the publication of a caricature of the prophet Muhammad in the French press”.
Born in LyonBenzema, 36, is considered one of the best forwards of his generation, winner of five Champions Leagues with the Real Madrid.
Source: AFP
