A Muslim girl appeared on a TV channel to talk about her passion for cooking and promoting her delicious and inexpensive recipes, only to find herself vulnerable to a torrent of insults and death threats, just because she is a Muslim wearing a hijab.

In a report published by the French newspaper Nouvelobs, writer Cecile Devontin said that Iman Bono - a Muslim student who presents recipes on Instagram - found herself at the center of a heated debate about Islam, the veil and extremism, because of a video clip on the "BFM" channel. (BFM) news in which she talks about her passion for cooking.

The author stated that the French student of Algerian origin was subjected to defamation campaigns and received death threats against the background of the video broadcast on the French channel on September 11, 2020, seriously considering filing a lawsuit.

Controversial tweet

Iman Buono, a 21-year-old Muslim student, has an Instagram account called "recettes.echelon7", through which she provides simple and inexpensive recipes for students who have limited budgets and want to eat delicious recipes at home, and he used to follow Iman's account, about 80,000 subscribers - whose number increased to 140,000 after the crisis - see her distinctive qualities.

The author says that the controversy heated up when the journalist Judith Weintraub of "Le Figaro" published a tweet in which she wrote the phrase "11 September" with a picture of Iman Bono.

11 septembre.

https://t.co/zdOJmKyTTA

- Judith Waintraub (@jwaintraub) September 11, 2020

The tweet sparked a wave of stinging comments and criticism, as many followers considered it shameful to associate a veiled girl with terrorism, and accused the journalist of racism and Islamophobia.

The writer adds that Judith herself had linked Islam with terrorism in a statement she made on the LCE channel following a knife attack in Paris in October 2019, when she said that "conversion to Islam is a warning bell that requires an investigation."

The journalist was exposed to death threats on social media after publishing her last tweet, which was denounced by the French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanan, and brought her a wide support campaign.

As for Iman - who closed her Twitter account after being subjected to a torrent of insults and defamation campaigns - she received little political support, the writer says.

View this post on Instagram

Vous + moi = amis pour la vie ❤️ complet sur la chaine Interview YouTube de @cliquetv

A post shared by Ministère des 18m2 (@ recettes.echelon7) on Mar 18, 2020 at 7:05 am PDT

Nadia Hayy, the French Minister of Moroccan origin, wrote on her Twitter account, "Everything in this video expresses the giving: the student's smile, sharing cooking with others, and inexpensive recipes, but because her name is Iman, and because she wears a hijab, Judith Weintraub made this sad and trivial hint ".

The author asks, "But why all this controversy about Eman? Why is her name associated with terrorism, even though she is known mainly through the delicious recipes on Instagram?"

Gifts for Muslim women

The author says that the link between the Muslim student and terrorism is caused by some of the previous tweets that Iman posted on her Twitter account.

In one of the tweets, she expressed her willingness to send a gift consisting of a Qur’an, a prayer rug and a veil to every Muslim woman who needs it.

In another tweet, Iman urged the Muslims of France to donate to mosques, and specifically mentioned the Bantan Mosque in Paris, which is one of the mosques affiliated with the Salafist movement, as the author says.

Iman also published a tweet about 8 conditions for the Islamic veil, including that a Muslim woman should not imitate non-Muslim women in her dress.

One of the tweeters mocked those who accused Eman of extremism because of her tweets, saying, "They searched through the tweets to discover that the Muslim woman Eman wants to gift Qur’ans to Muslim women. The shock is great."

Zainab Al-Ghazwi - a former journalist for "Charlie Hebdo" magazine known for its anti-hijab - described Iman as a militant and radical Islamist.

funny personality

A former colleague of Eman told the newspaper "Nouval Observator" that Iman enjoys great flexibility, describing her as a straight and non-extremist girl, who cares a lot about social justice issues.

A follower on social media describes her as a fun girl who pays attention to details and enjoys simple things, and says that she once filmed a "video clip because she was finally able to buy an oven, as if she found a gold mine."

According to him, there is a state of hysteria about everything related to Islam, and gifting Qur’ans to needy Muslims is a "very good thing, because it avoids them resorting to learning through Internet sites that may be extremist."

The writer concludes that Iman was about to publish a cookbook that includes a number of recipes and tips on the first of October 2020, but the newspaper learned that the publishing house that was to publish the book decided to cancel the publication without providing any explanation for the reasons.