Lawyer Rafik Chekatt announced on Tuesday that French police have arrested political scientist François Burgat, a supporter of the besieged Gaza Strip, on charges of "defending terrorism," stressing that "the place of an academic is not in a police station."
In a post on the X platform, Chekatt said that police arrested Burga in the southern French city of Aix-en-Provence "on the grounds that he supports terrorism," denouncing the move.
The lawyer also added in press statements that the European Jewish organization filed a complaint against Burga, an expert on Arab world affairs and Islamophobia, for republishing a post on the X platform on January 2.
"Burga gives honest answers based on his position as a researcher and the books he has written," he explained, adding that "he was heard in the National Assembly, the Senate and the Criminal Court... He was asked questions about the conflict (in Gaza) and given the opportunity to express his opinion."
Burgat has publicly expressed his support for Gaza on various occasions, and said in a post on X earlier this year that he had “much more respect and appreciation for the leaders of Hamas than for the leaders of Israel.” He has also criticized France’s position on the movement, describing it as “surrendering to American and Israeli policy.”
French police had previously summoned Burgat for questioning at the end of last June on charges of "glorifying terrorism."
The Israeli war on Gaza, with American support, since October 7, has left more than 126,000 dead and wounded, most of them children and women, and more than 10,000 missing amid massive destruction and famine that has claimed the lives of dozens of children.
Tel Aviv continues the war, ignoring the two UN Security Council resolutions calling for an immediate halt to it, and the International Court of Justice’s orders to take measures to prevent acts of genocide and to improve the catastrophic humanitarian situation in the Strip.
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