France:Author on Trial For "Insulting" Islam

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http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/2260922.stm


Author on trial over Islam 'insult'


The trial of the prize-winning French novelist Michel Houellebecq on charges of inciting religious hatred has begun in Paris.
The controversial writer is being sued by four Islamic organisations after making "insulting" remarks about the religion in an interview about his latest book.



Platform has been a best-seller in France

The novel, Platform, is also cited in the case being brought by the largest mosques in Paris and Lyon, the National Federation of French Muslims (FNMN) and the World Islamic League.

France's Human Rights League has also joined them, saying that Mr Houellebecq's comments amount to "Islamophobia".

The case has become a cause celebre, which, like the Salman Rushdie affair, raises questions about the appropriate limits, if any, to be placed on freedom of expression.


In an interview given last year to the French literary magazine Lire, the author was quoted as saying "the dumbest religion, after all, is Islam".

"When you read the Koran, you're shattered. The Bible at least is beautifully written because the Jews have a heck of a literary talent," he told Lire.

Some of France's best-known novelists, including Philippe Sollers and Regine Desforges, have expressed solidarity with the author.

Shortly after the start of the trial, far-right politician Jean-Yves Le Gallou and a number of his supporters were ejected from the court for stripping off their shirts to reveal T-shirts with slogans such as "Freedom of opinion, freedom of expression".

The Paris mosque has hired one of France's leading trial lawyers, Jean-Marc Varaut, whose past clients include the Nazi collaborator Maurice Papon, to press its case.

Blasphemy

Mr Houellebecq's lawyer, Emmanuel Pierrat, argues that the case effectively re-establishes the notion of blasphemy, despite the fact that France is a secular state and has no such law.



What I think as an individual seems to be of no importance here

Michel Houellebecq
Mr Houellebecq, who recently won the Impac literary prize, is used to the controversy - and the attendant publicity - arising from his frank and sometimes nihilistic novels.

He has neither retracted his comments nor defended the main character in his novel Platform, who admits to a "quiver of glee" every time a "Palestinian terrorist" is killed.

Last year Mr Houellebecq said he had "a gift" for insults and provocation.

"In my novels, it adds a certain spice. It's rather humorous, no? What I think as an individual seems to be of no importance here," he said in an interview.

But the lawyers for the Paris and Lyon mosques said in a statement: "It is anti-Muslim racism that is at the heart of the trial, not the personality or the provocative tastes of one successful author or another."

Houellebecq, who lives in Ireland, is working on the film adaptation of his novel Atomised (Les particules elementaires).

He faces a year in jail or a 52,000 euro (£33,000) fine if he loses the case.

[Zero4eva]

Michel Houellebecq is an overrated writer. He needs some promo......

[Kill]

Michel Houellebecq is an overrated writer. He needs some promo......

To me this only makes sense if u meant "underrated"

[Zero4eva]

To me this only makes sense if u meant "underrated"

he needs promo and he's overrated. there's no contradiction.