French court hands activist five month suspended sentence for 'intifada in Paris' call
A prominent French pro-Palestine activist has been handed a five month suspended jail sentence for calling for an "intifada in Paris" during a protest earlier this year.
Following a trial that began on 23 October, Elias D'Imzalene was sentenced and ordered to pay damages to five organisations that fight anti-semitism.
He was tried over charges of "public incitement to hatred" during an 8 September rally in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza.
During the event held in Paris, Imzalene asked the crowd: "Are we ready to lead the intifada in Paris? In our suburbs? In our neighbourhoods?
"The path to liberation… starts in Paris," he added. "Soon, Jerusalem will be liberated and we will be able to pray at Al-Aqsa Mosque."
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Imzalene went on to accuse US President Joe Biden and his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron of complicity in Israel's war on Gaza.
"The genocide has accomplices. They are called Biden, they are called Macron, Macron the election thief, right? We know the thieves, who live in the Elysee and Matignon [the residences of the French president and prime minister]."
The word "intifada" is an Arabic term meaning uprising, resistance or rebellion. It was used in the Palestinian context to name the first uprising of 1987-1993 and the second one in 2000-2005.
Imzalene told the court that use of the word intifada was "a pacifist expression of indignation in the face of the Palestinian genocide".
'Anti-Palestinian bias'
His lawyer, Rafik Chekkat, said on Thursday that the court considered the term intifada to mean "a revolt targeting Israelis".
The court also considered that an intifada in Paris meant targeting the French Jewish community, "thus establishing an equivalence between Israelis and French Jews, an equivalence that the court itself describes as inappropriate and reductive, but without which its entire reasoning collapses," said Chekkat.
"Only by lumping together all French Jews with Israel that the court was able to condemn Mr. Elias d'Imzalene, who nevertheless never uttered the words 'Israel', 'Jews' or even 'Zionists', but rather specifically targeted Macron and Biden."
D'Imzalene described the verdict as a victory, since some critics had demanded a lengthy sentence of up to 15 years.
"In view of the campaign orchestrated by the political and media sphere, this is a real slap in the face for the censors of freedom of expression who wish to prevent us from denouncing the genocide underway in Gaza," he told Anadolu Agency.
"So finally, a complete defeat of the people who are pro-genocidal, of those who wanted to silence our opposition and our demand, namely that of stopping this genocide in Gaza. So a victory."
British NGO Cage International described the verdict as an example of the French state's "Islamophobic and anti-Palestinian bias".
"The verdict also testifies to the strong defence put up to defend Elias, both in the court of law and the court of public opinion," said Cage's international researcher Rayan Freschi.
"Elias' successful campaign heavily moderated the potential severity of the verdict, as the original charges could have resulted in a 15-year prison sentence."
Activists in France have condemned the increased repression of pro-Palestine voices since 7 October, with hundreds of investigations being launched into remarks about the Israel-Palestine conflict under the so-called “apology for terrorism” offence, a charge which involves defending or positively portraying terrorist acts.
Among the most prominent figures accused of advocating terrorism are MP Mathilde Panot and MEP Rima Hassan, both from LFI, as well as prominent French expert on political Islam, Francois Burgat.
Their summons by the police followed complaints made by the European Jewish Association, a French NGO made up of volunteer lawyers, which accused them of legitimising Hamas's actions in their statements.
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