2023-10-19 07:11:25
Karim Benzema vigorously contested, on Wednesday, through his lawyer, the comments of Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin, who on Monday evening accused former French international Karim Benzema of being “in notorious links with the Muslim Brotherhood”.
Published on: 10/19/2023 – 09:11
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Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin ignited social networks after accusing Karim Benzema of being “in notorious links with the Muslim Brotherhood” (Islamist organization born in Egypt), which the 2022 Ballon d’Or vigorously denied on Wednesday October 18 through the voice of his lawyer.
“This is false! Karim Benzema has never had the slightest relationship with this organization”, reacted in a press release Me Hugues Vigier, in response to comments made by the Minister of the Interior Monday evening on CNews.
“Karim Benzema is, as we all know, notoriously linked to the Muslim Brotherhood,” declared Gérald Darmanin. He spoke following the publication on X by Karim Benzemasending “all (his) prayers for the inhabitants of Gaza who are once again victims of these unjust bombings which spare neither women nor children”.
“Praying on October 15 for civilian populations under bombs which spare neither women nor children obviously does not constitute ‘propaganda for Hamas’, nor ‘complicity in terrorism nor acts of collaboration'”, maintained Mr. Hugues Vigier .
“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 cannot be discussed”, he added, considering filing a complaint against Gérald Darmanin for defamation or public insult.
According to him, “we are once again witnessing an intolerable exploitation of Karim Benzema and the ‘symbolic figure’ that we like to attribute to him.”
“Positions” not relating to “legal proceedings”
“For several years, we have noted a slow drift in Karim Benzema’s positions towards a hard, rigorous Islam, characteristic of the Brotherhood ideology consisting of disseminating Islamic norms in different spaces of society, particularly in sport,” said – we continued in the minister’s entourage.
We cited the player’s refusal to sing 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 publication of Russian MMA fighter Khabib Nurmagomedov, real call to hatred following the publication of caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad in the French press”.
Born in Lyon, Karim Benzema, aged 35, is considered one of the best attackers of his generation. He joined the Saudi club Al-Ittihad.
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