Paris [France], November 11: French judicial authorities have opened an investigation into the bestselling novelist and prominent public intellectual Michel Houellebecq concerning allegedly discriminatory remarks made about Muslims in a November 2022 interview, media reports said on Tuesday.
An investigating judge in Nanterre has opened a formal investigation, several French media outlets reported, citing judicial sources. He is suspected of complicity in incitement to discrimination, hatred or violence. The case centres on an interview with philosopher Michel Onfray published in the magazine Front Populaire.
In it, Houellebecq, whose novels include "Submission" and "Atomised," allegedly portrayed Muslims as a threat to the safety of French people with French ancestry. According to media reports, Houellebecq said in the interview that French people of French origin did not want Muslims to assimilate. Instead, Muslims should stop robbing and attacking French people or leave the country.
He also spoke of possible future "reverse Bataclan attacks" targeting Muslims, referring to the terrorist attacks in Paris on November 13, 2015. In January 2023, the France's Council of the Muslim Faith filed a criminal complaint against Houellebecq, Onfray and the magazine's editor, Stephane Simon.
Source: Qatar Tribune