French imam receives suspended jail term over October 7 social media post

Interior Ministry has tried to shut the mosque where he worked

Smain Bendjilali, centre, speaking at a press conference at the Bleuets mosque in Marseille, southern France in September 2024. Photo Felice Rosa / Hans Lucas

A French court on Friday sentenced an imam to a six-month suspended prison term for “terrorism apology” after he re-posted a social media post saying the Hamas-led attacks against Israel on October 7, 2023 were justified.

The Marseille criminal court also fined Smain Bendjilali €2,000 ($2,265) and imposed a five-year civil rights ban, which prevents him from voting or standing for public office. His name was added to a terrorist offences register.

Bendjilali made headlines last year after the Interior Ministry tried to shut the mosque, Les Bleuets, where he preached due to his social media posts. Its closure was suspended after the imam agreed to withdraw temporarily and to take a degree in “laicite” – a French concept that enshrines the separation between religion and state.

National media reported that he was convicted of reposting a video on his account in July 2024, followed by 10,800 people, with a comment describing the October 7 attacks as “self-defence”.

However, he was acquitted for reposting a video accusing Israeli soldiers of torturing a Palestinian and adding that ISIS were “choirboys” by comparison.

The court followed the prosecution's demands, with the exception of a request for a six-month ban from social network X and a permanent ban from working at the Bleuets mosque.

After the verdict, Bendjilali said he would resume his religious activities “with pride”, starting with Friday's sermon. “I did not adhere to those remarks,” he said in a reference to the social media posts that triggered the court case, as he did during the hearing in March. “Obviously, as soon as you defend Palestinians, you are anti-Semitic or terrorist. That will not silence us.”

In a recently published report on the Muslim Brotherhood's activities in France ordered by the Interior Ministry, Bendjilali was described as having “Salafist leanings” while also using “Muslim Brotherhood codes.” The report said: “He enjoys great popularity among young Muslims, notably due to his mastery of social networks.”

The association that manages Les Bleuets mosque also oversees a Quranic school that offers Arabic language lessons and academic support to 500 students. Bendjilali headed the association until September 2024.

Reacting to the Muslim Brotherhood report, Bendjilali told AFP that the French state was unfairly targeting Muslims. “Now, even when you want to do good, it is considered entryism,” he said. Entryism is defined by senior state officials as an attempt by the Muslim Brotherhood to change the nature of the state via grassroots movements and to lobby for rules in line with Sharia.

Bendjilali was also ordered to cover the legal fees of the International League Against Racism and Anti-Semitism (Licra), a French association that was a civil party in his trial.

His lawyer, Sefen Guez Guez, said they had not decided whether to appeal against the terrorism conviction. “This decision, in any case, allows the imam to continue his future activities. In this file, there is a political context and pressure, a desire on the part of the Ministry of the Interior to close this mosque,” he said.