During the trial at the Nice criminal court on December 18, the prosecution requested ten months’ suspended prison sentence for Youcef Atal for provoking hatred on the grounds of religion, a 45,000 euro fine and publication of the conviction for a period of time. month on the home page of the defender’s Instagram account, which exceeds 3.2 million subscribers.
Summoned to the “Fennecs” national team, with a view to the African Cup of Nations (CAN) which begins next week in Ivory Coast, the 27-year-old player should not be present for the deliberation .
Five days after the unprecedented attacks by the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas against Israel on October 7, and the start of Israel’s bombing of Gaza, Atal shared a video of a preacher, Mahmoud Al Hasanat, on Instagram.
The latter first evokes, moved to tears, the fate of the children of Gaza under the bombs. Then he toughens his tone and calls on God to send “a dark day on the Jews” and to “accompany the hand” of the inhabitants of Gaza if they “throw the stone”.
Atal was in Algeria, with the national team, when he shared this video. Warned by OGC Nice of the controversial nature of the comments, he withdrew it the next day, with a message of apology.
In court, Atal apologized again, repeatedly repeating that he had wanted to send “a message of peace” and that he had not watched the video to the end before sharing it.
Sharing is “giving visibility”
Since the video only lasts 35 seconds, the argument convinced neither the deputy prosecutor, Meggi Choutia, nor the civil parties, mainly Jewish organizations and the Professional Football League (LFP).
“These are serious facts, which must not be trivialized. Sharing a video means taking credit for the comments and giving them visibility,” declared Ms. Choutia in her indictment: “At no time, during these 35 seconds, is there any question of peace,” insisted the magistrate.
But for his lawyer, Me Antoine Vey, “he sent a message of support to the Palestinians in Gaza. For him this is peace, and he is not the only one.”
Youcef Atal, who has played for Ligue 1 club Nice since 2018, has not reappeared in the Aiglons jersey since this publication, first suspended “until further notice” by his club, then for seven matches by the LFP disciplinary committee, a sanction now served.
A fast and offensive right-back, he has on the other hand started in the three matches played by Algeria since the publication of the video and has received a lot of support in his country.
“I am not anti-Semitic. I am neither against Jews nor against Christians, I have no hatred against anyone,” he insisted in court, recalling that unlike many athletes in the Arab world, he had not hesitated to play in Tel Aviv with Nice, in the summer of 2022 in the European Cup.