The rector of the Great Mosque of Paris confirmed on Friday that he had decided to “waive legal proceedings” against the writer Michel Houellebecq for the “violent” remarks aimed at Muslims, welcoming in particular the “regrets” expressed by the novelist .
In a press release published the day after a meeting between the two men, Chems-eddine Hafiz indicates that “after having taken note of the modifications” of the offending remarks “made by Michel Houellebecq and the regrets he expressed, the Great Mosque of Paris has decided to waive legal proceedings against him in this state.
Last week, Mr. Hafiz had denounced “violent” and “extremely serious” remarks by Mr. Houellebecq towards Muslims published at the end of November in the review Popular Frontin an interview with the philosopher Michel Onfray.
Mr. Hafiz had added that he was filing a complaint, but the complaint was never officially filed.
In the interview, the author of the novel Submission presented Muslims as a threat to the safety of non-Muslim French people.
“The wish of the native French population, as they say, is not for Muslims to assimilate, but for them to stop stealing from and attacking them. Or else, another solution, that they go away, ”affirmed Michel Houellebecq. He also predicts future “Bataclan upside down” with regard to Muslims, in reference to the jihadist attacks of November 13, 2015.
On Thursday, the writer acknowledged that some paragraphs were “ambiguous” and sent the Figaro a new amended version of his initial remarks. What the French “are asking for, and even what they are demanding, is that foreign criminals be expelled, and in general that justice be more severe with petty offenders,” he wrote.
For his part, Mohammed Moussaoui, president of the Union of French Mosques, one of the federations making up the French Council for Muslim Worship, which had also announced its intention to file a complaint, indicated in a press release on Friday that it wanted to continue its legal action against Mr. Houllebecq. He plans to file a complaint next Monday, he told AFP.