France requests 8-month sentence for political scientist over Gaza posts
Prosecutor's office also demands fine, 6-month ban from posting on X for Francois Burgat
France requested an eight-month suspended sentence Thursday for political scientist Francois Burgat over his social media posts about Israeli attacks on Gaza.
Burgat, known for his works on Islamophobia, is on trial over "terrorist propaganda" for his posts related to Gaza.
The prosecutor's office is demanding that Burgat be given an eight-month suspended prison sentence and fined €4,000 ($4,555), according to information obtained by Anadolu.
It also requested that the political scientist be banned from posting on X for six months.
Burgat, speaking at the trial, said he doesn't "celebrate" what happened on Oct. 7, 2023, when the Palestinian group Hamas launched a cross-border attack on Israel, but given the situation in the region, he trusts Hamas' account of the events more than Israel's.
The court will announce its verdict in his case on May 28.
Burgat was detained in Aix-en-Provence in southern France on July 9, 2024 on charges of “terrorist propaganda” following a complaint filed by l'Organisation Juive Europeenne, an Israel lobby group, over posts he made on social media on Jan. 2, 2024 about Israel's attacks on Gaza and was released the same day.
Israel has killed nearly 51,400 Palestinians in the enclave since October 2023, most of them women and children.
Last November, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.
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Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war, which has left the territory on the brink of famine.
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