Journalist Taha Bouhafs was sentenced on appeal in Paris to a suspended fine of 1,000 euros on Thursday for "public insult of a racist nature" after having described police unionist Linda Kebbab as "
Arab on duty
" in a tweet that was later deleted.
The Court of Appeal confirmed the judgment of the Criminal Court which found Taha Bouhafs guilty in September 2021 of the offense of public insult on the grounds of origin.
However, it overturned the sentence and sentenced Taha Bouhafs to a suspended fine of 1,000 euros, against 1,500 euros at first instance.
"Outrageous" remarks
In June 2020, the day after a demonstration against police violence organized by relatives of Adama Traoré, a young black man who died in 2016 after his arrest by the gendarmes, Linda Kebbab, national delegate of the police union Unit SGP-FO, is invited on franceinfo.
She then claims that, while understanding "
the anger and suffering
" of Adama Traoré's family, his death had "
absolutely nothing to do
" with that of George Floyd in the United States, who died of suffocation after his arrest.
On his Twitter account at the time followed by 80,000 people, Taha Bouhafs comments on these statements, hijacking the acronym ADS (security assistant) and calling the police unionist "
ADS: Arab service
".
A tweet deleted a few minutes later because “
provoking
”, he explained.
Read also“Service Arab”: Taha Bouhafs found guilty of racial insults against Linda Kebbab
In its decision consulted by AFP, the Court of Appeal considered that the remarks were "
outrageous
" and had "
also a racist character since they reduce the person concerned to her Arab origin, which would prohibit her from defending certain ideas under penalty of being automatically presented as an alibi for his union or the police institution
".
“
This conviction demonstrates that no environment is exempt from racist and discriminatory behavior
,” responded Linda Kebbab in a press release.
"
This decision is stubborn in the violation of my freedom of expression, it is also stubborn in the repression of political anti-racism
", declared for his part Taha Bouhafs, for whom "
the formula used aimed to qualify a strategy racist of the police institution and to denounce the political position of Linda Kebbab
".
His lawyer, Me Arié Alimi, announced that he was going to lodge an appeal in cassation against this decision.
Taha Bouhafs is also ordered, as in the first instance, to pay 2,000 euros in damages to Linda Kebbab, and one euro to the International League against Racism and Anti-Semitism (Licra), also a civil party.
