Amnesty International has criticized the French government's position in the crisis of the cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad, may God bless him and grant him peace, noting that the French Parliament is currently discussing a law criminalizing the circulation of images of French officials through social media.
"France is not a champion of freedom of expression as it claims," said Marco Pirolini, a researcher at Amnesty International for Europe. "In 2019, a French court indicted two men for contempt, after they burned an effigy representing French President Emmanuel Macron during a peaceful demonstration."
In an article published on the organization’s official website, Berolini added that it is difficult to reconcile these facts with France’s fierce defense of the mockery of the Prophet Muhammad, may God’s prayers and peace be upon him, especially since its record on freedom of expression is bleak, as thousands of people are indicted every year for "contempt of public officials."
According to the writer, President Emmanuel Macron and his government announced their support for freedom of expression after the killing of the French teacher, Samuel Bate, who showed cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad in a classroom, but they launched their own attack on freedom of expression.
He cited to this the case of the French police investigation last week with 4 10-year-old children for hours, on suspicion of "justifying terrorism", after apparently questioning the murdered teacher choosing to display the offensive cartoons to his students.
Pirolini emphasized that objecting to cartoons offensive to Islam does not make one a separatist or a fanatic, as the French government claims.
"While the right to express opinion or opinions that may be perceived as offensive to religious beliefs is vigorously defended, Muslims' freedoms of expression and belief usually receive little attention in France under the guise of universality of the principles of the republic and in the name of secularism. Muslims in France have the right to wear religious symbols or religious dress in schools or in public sector jobs. "
The article was surprised by the French Minister of Interior Gerald Darmanin's announcement of his intention to dissolve the Anti-Islamophobia Grouping in France (CCIF), an organization that fights unfair discrimination against Muslims, and described the gathering as an enemy of the Republic and a background room for terrorism without providing any evidence to support its claims.
Perolini concluded his article by stressing that the French government's discourse on freedom of expression is not sufficient to hide its shameful hypocrisy, and that freedom of expression is meaningless unless it applies to everyone.
On October 28, a French organization canceled the contract with the Mauritanian cartoonist Khaled Ould Moulay Idris, after he published cartoons of the French President, against the background of insulting Islam and the Prophet Muhammad, may God bless him and grant him peace.
Last October, France witnessed the publication of cartoons insulting to the Prophet Muhammad, may God bless him and grant him peace, on the facades of buildings, which the French President considered "freedom of expression."
The cartoons and Macron's statements sparked a wave of anger among Muslims around the world, and campaigns were launched in many Muslim and Arab countries to boycott French products.