Pending a final verdict, Atal will be banned from leaving France and will therefore miss the first phase of Algeria’s preparations for the continental tournament.
Algerian international Youcef Atal, currently a footballer with the French Nice squad, is facing the possibility of not being able to join his national team, known as the ‘Desert Warriors’, at the African Nations finals scheduled in Ivory Coast next month.
This is due to a court ruling in France over a post on social media in support of the people of Gaza, as they face an outright genocide by the Israeli military, Al-Jazeera reported.
The French prosecutor in the city of Nice, located in southern France, demanded a suspended 10-month prison sentence and a fine of 45,000 euros against Atal, who was tried on December 18 by the Criminal Court of Nice.
A real man 🤍 Youcef Atal pic.twitter.com/iGAJo0BMg1
— Halal Nation © (@HalalNation_) December 20, 2023
The verdict is due to be announced on January 3.
Pending a final verdict, Atal will be banned from leaving France and will therefore miss the first phase of Algeria’s preparations for the continental tournament.
Atal also risks missing the African Nations Championship if the French court upholds his prison sentence.
The African Nations Finals will take place from January 13 to February 11, next year.
The Nice football team announced Atal’s suspension last month, and the French League’s disciplinary committee punished the Algerian player with a seven-match suspension as well.
These decisions came because of Atal’s support of the Palestinian cause, and his protest against the deadly Israeli attacks on civilians in Gaza, in a video he posted on his Instagram account.
The French website ‘Nice Matin’, said that Atal will not return again to wear the Nice shirt even after the end of his sentence, and that the player is expected to be sold in the winter transfer period.
Algerian footballer of the French team “Nice” Youcef Atal is being sued in France for supporting Palestine
He was suspended for 7 games and has been charged with religious hatred, the punishment for this charge will be imprisonment or a fine
What a shame !🇩🇿🇩🇿🇩🇿🇵🇸🇵🇸🇵🇸 pic.twitter.com/CXzgVqh1Pc
— 🔻🇵🇸ميّ (@MayMelhem) December 16, 2023
Try Macron, Not Atal
“If anyone should stand a trial it is the French government, particularly French President Emmanuel Macron,” Palestinian journalist and political commentator Ramzy Baroud said.
“Macron and his top officials, along with a large number of French politicians and intellectuals have been inciting violence against Palestinian in Gaza, and continued to support the ongoing Israeli genocide by all means available to them,” he added.
“Macron went as far as calling for an international coalition to fight against Hamas the same way it is fighting ‘against ISIS in Iraq and Syria’, thus equating between Palestinian Resistance and a terrorist group. Yet, according to French law, it is a football player who is being indicted for showing solidarity with a beleaguered nation, not those who are supporting war crimes in Gaza.”
Baroud asserted that “France’s anti-Palestinian actions and political discourse is rapidly destroying any credibility that Paris has had prior to the war.”
(AJA, PC)
The only world leaders supporting “Israel ” are Zionists. in America, France, Germany…