The Minister of the Interior denounced, on Tuesday, the supposed links of Karim Benzema with the Muslim Brotherhood.
“Mr. Benzema is, as we all know, notoriously linked to the Muslim Brotherhood”. Guest of CNews Tuesday October 17, Gérald Darmanin concluded his intervention with this accusation against Karim Benzema, following the latter’s support for the inhabitants of Gaza. Initially going unnoticed, this declaration has since found itself at the heart of French political news. The player’s lawyer refuted these accusations on Wednesday evening.
For its part, contacted by franceinfo: sport, the Ministry of the Interior developed in writing the reasons which lead it to believe that the attacker would be linked to the Muslim Brotherhood. This Sunni Islamist organization is considered terrorist by seven countries, but not France or the European Union.
“A particularly vague signal”
“For several years, we have noticed 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”, says the cabinet of the Ministry of the Interior. Among the reasons given, Beauvau underlines the “refusal of the football player to sing the Marseillaise during selections for the French team. A recurring criticism concerning him, which had concerned other big names in French football.
The Interior Ministry also accuses Karim Benzema of “proselytism on social networks around Muslim worship, such as fasting, prayer, pilgrimage to Mecca“, without specifying which publications pose a problem. Beauvau also recalls that the player had posed in a photo with imam Nourdine Mamoune, targeted by a search in October 2020, after the death of Samuel Paty. The operation did not result in no prosecution.
Finally, the Ministry of the Interior mentions Karim Benzema’s “like” on an Instagram post by Russian MMA fighter Khabib Nurmagomedov: “A real call to hatred following the publication of caricatures of the Prophet Mohammed in the French press”. A publication loved at the time by several million people, including other French football players like Mamadou Sakho or Presnel Kimpembe, or even by the Englishman David Beckham.
Raised on these names, the minister’s entourage did not comment further. “To my knowledge, these positions do not constitute legal proceedings”concedes a close friend of the Minister of the Interior, who nevertheless believes: “They constitute a particularly vague signal from an athlete benefiting from such an audience.”
Karim Benzema considers prosecution
On the player’s side, we deny any link with the Muslim Brotherhood, said his lawyer, Mr. Hugues Vigier, in the columns of Parisian : “This is false! Karim Benzema has never had the slightest relationship with this organization. […] We are considering legal action against this minister. […] It is not acceptable for those who govern to believe they are authorized to do anything out of pure opportunism.”