"I respect Hamas more than the leaders of Israel," said the arrested French political scientist
Francois Bourgat, a French political scientist and former researcher at the National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS), who criticized Israel's occupation of Palestine, was arrested on Tuesday on charges of "terrorist propaganda".
It is noted that the incident is the first time that a French university professor has been prosecuted for expressing his opinion on a foreign conflict.
Aix-en-Provence prosecutor Jean-Luc Blanchon confirmed that the political scientist was arrested on Tuesday and released the next morning.
The former CNRS researcher was arrested by the OJE (European Jewish Organization) after he filed a complaint against political scientist Francois Bourgat for reprinting and reacting to messages from the Palestinian Hamas movement, as well as a number of other statements.
The academic is accused of posting on social network X (formerly Twitter) on January 2, 2024 in response to a New York Times article about "rape and abuse allegations." The statement called the allegations "part of a Zionist attempt to demonize the Palestinian resistance" and demanded the American newspaper "apologize for its professional error".
"I respect the leaders of Hamas more than the leaders of the State of Israel. I think I'm not the only one, on the contrary," the French political scientist wrote in another post.
Revolution Permane te, a left-wing online publication, notes that since October of last year, the pressure against supporters of the liberation of Palestine has increased. According to the publication, in addition to banning demonstrations and rallies and threatening to disperse them, the government has made the charge of "terrorist propaganda" a key tool in its repressive machine.
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