War on Gaza: Algerian footballer Youcef Atal convicted in France over Gaza post
Algerian footballer Youcef Atal has been given an eight-month suspended prison sentence for a post he reshared on social media relating to Israel’s bombardment of Gaza.
The Nice criminal court said on Wednesday that the 27-year-old shared a video that could be seen as provoking hatred on the grounds of religion.
Atal, who lives in France and plays for the Ligue 1 team Nice, was also ordered to pay a fine of €45,000 ($49,000).
The footballer, who won the Africa Cup of Nations with Algeria in 2019, shared a video in which a Palestinian preacher, Mahmoud al-Hasanat, spoke about Israel’s bombardment of Gaza.
The video was shared to his 3.2 million followers in the days following the 7 October Hamas attack on Israel.
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Hasanat reportedly prayed in the video that God would “guide the hand of” Palestinians striking back against Israeli aggressions.
Atal took down the post shortly after it was posted and took to Instagram stories to apologise.
His post read: “I want to clarify my point of view without any ambiguity: I strongly denounce all forms of violence, wherever in the world, and I support all victims.”
Despite apologising again during court hearings, and reiterating that he didn’t watch the video in its entirety, his team and the French league banned Atal from seven matches.
"Sharing a video means being party to its message and lending it visibility,” prosecutor Meggi Choutia said in court. "There is no talk of peace at any moment in these 35 seconds.”
The footballer joined Nice from Belgium's Kortrijk in 2018 and has scored 12 goals in 115 appearances for his current club.
Atal has received praise online, with some social media users supporting him for speaking up against the bombardment of Palestine and saying that the sentence was too harsh.
Around 1,140 people were killed during the 7 October attack. Israel has since killed at least 22,000 Palestinians in Gaza, and wounded over 50,000 more.
Since 7 October, Gaza has been plunged into a deep humanitarian crisis, after Israel cut off all fuel, food, water, electricity and aid to the besieged enclave on 9 October.
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