Gérald Darmanin links Karim Benzema to the Muslim Brotherhood, the Ballon d’or plans to file a complaint | EUROtoday

“Karim Benzema is, as we all know, notoriously linked to the Muslim Brotherhood. » Gérald Darmanin ignited social networks after accusing Karim Benzema of being linked to the Islamist organization born in Egypt, which the Ballon d’Or vigorously denied on Wednesday through his lawyer, Hugues Vigier.

“This is false!” Karim Benzema has by no means had the slightest relationship with this group”reacted in a press launch M^e Vigier, in response to feedback made by the Minister of the Interior Monday night on CNews. Gérald Darmanin spoke following the publication on X (previously Twitter) of the soccer worldwide addressing “all [ses] prayers for the inhabitants of Gaza who are once again victims of these unjust bombings which spare no women or children”.

“Praying on October 15 for civilian populations under bombs which spare neither women nor children obviously constitutes neither “propaganda for Hamas”, nor “complicity in terrorism nor acts of collaboration””replied the participant’s lawyer. “It is, I want to believe, natural compassion in the face of what many today describe as war crimes being committed in Gaza, but which does not take away anything from the horror of the terrorist acts of October 7, which is not discussed »added Hugues Vigier, referring to the possible filing of a complaint against Mr. Darmanin for defamation or public insult.

According to the lawyer, “we are once again witnessing an intolerable exploitation of Karim Benzema and the “symbolic figure” that we like to attribute to him”. Throughout his profession, Karim Benzema, 35, thought-about one in all the finest strikers of his era, has commonly been the goal of political criticism, notably from the proper and the far proper.

Darmanin’s entourage speaks of “a slow drift”

Questioned by Agence France-Presse about a potential authorized motion by the minister, Gérald Darmanin’s entourage responded that the “positions” of the participant “were not subject to legal proceedings”. ” Butit was added, they constitute a particularly vague signal from an athlete benefiting from such an audience. »

“For several years, we have noted a slow drift in Karim Benzema’s positions towards a harsh, rigorous Islam, characteristic of the Brotherhood ideology consisting of disseminating Islamic norms in different spaces of society, particularly in sport”we continued in the minister’s entourage.

The player’s refusal to sing was cited The Marseillaise during selections for the French team, his “proselytism on social networks around Muslim worship, such as fasting, prayer, pilgrimage to Mecca” or his “support for the publication of Russian MMA fighter Khabib Nurmagomedov, a real call to hatred following the publication of caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad in the French press”.

The Minister of the Interior’s comments come in a context marked by high tensions in the Middle East, which has led to a toughening of the immigration bill.