Atal: “I did not watch the entire video clip” – Al-Ekhbariya

Algerian international Youssef Atal is facing charges of incitement to hatred against the Jewish community in France, since he published a video clip on social media sites in sympathy with the current events in the occupied Palestinian territories.

Atal, who was punished by the French Football League with a seven-match suspension, appeared on Monday before the Court of Appeal in Nice, where the judicial hearing is still ongoing at the time of writing these lines.

According to what was reported by local media, French law punishes the accused in a similar case with one year in prison in addition to a fine of 45,000 euros.

Al-Jazairi arrived at the location around 1:50 p.m., accompanied by lawyers Tom Michel and Antoine Fay, in addition to a linguistic translator to help him explain his views to the judicial authorities.

🚨Youcef Atal is available in the tribunal. The international community and the OGCN team comparat ce lundi with the nice tribunal correction nil for provocation at the same time. pic.twitter.com/U41mVDu63c

— SPORTS ZONE (@SportsZone__) December 18, 2023

The first intervention of the defense lawyer

Defense lawyer Antoine Faye tried to ask the judge a question about the feasibility of the French judiciary handling the case at a time when the incident took place outside French territory.

Atal published a video clip in solidarity with the Palestinian people under the bombing of the Zionist army by the Palestinian preacher Mahmoud Hasnat, when he was participating with the national team in the camp last October.

Fay said: “Atal directed his message to an Arab audience, by circulating a video in Arabic, without even commenting on it since there was nothing relevant to the French people.”

The footballer Youcef had arrived at the Nice Justice Palace, was heard by his son Avocat Me Antoine Vey. The later entry into the@ogcnfor the purpose of citing this religion, which has been suspended by a depuis club. #Atal pic.twitter.com/ucT2nnKyuN

– Christophe Cirone (@Cirone06) December 18, 2023

The public prosecutor responds

Lawyer Fay’s speech did not convince the public prosecutor, who confirmed that the French judiciary was authorized to hear the case.

He said in this regard: “We are faced with a publication of a player who has been active within French territory for 5 years, sharing the same fan base of the club.” NiceThe message is directed to the Jewish community, which has a significant presence in France.”

The European Jewish Organization is present in court

The Jewish Organization of France, along with the European Jewry Organization, registered its presence in the courtroom in Nice.

Its representatives tried to put pressure on judicial officials, with one of them intervening to give his opinion, saying: “The party responsible for publishing this message is from the city of Nice, and the circulating video clip is attributed to a preacher who has a receiving audience of up to three million followers on social media sites.”

He added: “The unfortunate thing is that the player did not apologize except at the behest of the team’s sports director.”

Atal explains his position on the issue

The judge asked Youssef Atal a question, saying: “When you see a person you do not know, the first reaction that comes to your mind is to search for him on the Internet. Why was this not the case for you before the video was published?”

Atal’s answer was as follows: “I was not interested in knowing the identity of the preacher, as much as I wanted to show solidarity with the Palestinian people who are suffering from the scourge of war. This is what the first words at the beginning of the video conveyed.”

These words did not satisfy the judge’s hunger, as he continued to pressure Al-Jazairi by saying: “Within 30 seconds, I obtained comprehensive information about the preacher, who has a history linking him to terrorist acts that affected the city of Nice, and he had previously accused the French president of acquiescing.”

Atal simply responded, saying: “I do not have the same intuition and mastery regarding social media in order to access such information.”

Source: French media