Footballer sues politician over Muslim Brotherhood accusation

French footballer, Karim Benzema, is suing the country’s interior minister after the politician said he had “notorious” links to the Islamist organisation, the Muslim Brotherhood.

Benzema, 36, filed a case for defamation on Tuesday against Gérald Darmanin, who is guilty of “political exploitation,” the player’s lawyer said.

In a 92-page complaint, Benzema said he “never had the slightest link with the Muslim Brotherhood organisation” nor, to the player’s knowledge, “with someone who would claim it”.

The legal documents added: “I realise to what extent I am, because of my notoriety, being used in political games that are all the more scandalous since the dramatic events since 7 October deserve anything other than this type of declaration.”

Benzema’s lawyer, Hugues Vigier, told French news outlet RTL that the footballer is the victim of “political exploitation” and accused the interior minister of “sowing division in France”.

The Muslim Brotherhood, an Islamist group of Sunni Muslims, is banned in several countries, including Egypt since 2013, Russia, and Saudi Arabia, where the former Real Madrid striker plays for Saudi Pro League team Al Ittihad.

However, the Muslim Brotherhood, founded in Egypt in 1928, is not banned in most of the European Union.

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Benzema and Mr Darmanin clashed in October after the player posted on the social media website, X, showing his support for the people of Gaza as “victims again of unjust bombardments which spare neither women nor children”.

Mr Darmanin, in an interview on French TV channel CNews, pointed out that Benzema had failed to express similar sympathy for the estimated 1,300 Israeli victims that Hamas killed on 7 October.

The former French striker, he said, was “well-known for his links with the Muslim Brotherhood.

“We are fighting the hydra that is the Muslim Brotherhood because it creates an atmosphere of jihadism,” the minister added.

Benzema, a practising Muslim, quickly issued a denial and threatened legal action against the minister for slander.

Mr Darmanin is yet to comment on the complaint.

He has previously criticised Benzema for other reasons, including his refusal to sing the French national anthem before international matches.

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Benzema’s case against Mr Darmanin was filed at the Court of Justice of the Republic (CJR), the only court in France with the power to prosecute and judge members of the government for offences committed in the course of their work.

In 2021, Benzema was handed a one-year suspended jail sentence and fined €75,000 (£63,000) for his part in a sex tape blackmail scandal against his French teammate Mathieu Valbuena.

He was suspended by the French national team when the affair came to light in 2015.

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