As reported by AS, Karim Benzema (35), speaking through his lawyer, responded to comments made on Monday by French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin accusing Benzema of having ties to the terrorist organisation Muslim Brotherhood.
According to his lawyer, Hugues Vigier, the former Real Madrid striker regrets that due to “low politics,” he is being linked to terrorism, but he vehemently denies being a Muslim fundamentalist. The French Minister’s comments came after Benzema published a tweet showing solidarity with Palestine following the escalation of the conflict with Israel. According to Benzema’s lawyer, the comments had a “devastating and dramatic impact” on the Frenchman, who now plays for the Saudi Arabian side Al-Itihhad.
Vigier, discussing a conversation he had with Benzema, says the striker told him, “I have heard so many things about myself, so many unfair things. But now it is my children, my children, that suffer because their father is being accused of being a terrorist”. His lawyer stated that the controversy resulted from nothing more than “political manoeuvering” and that Benzema’s religious practices are “in no way radical.”
The Ballon d’Or winner is also considering taking legal action over the “non-existent link with the Muslim Brotherhood”.
GSFN | Finn Entwistle
