The Paris Criminal Court sentenced a man to six months in prison with a suspended sentence for inciting racial hatred after wearing a shirt with the word “anti-Jewish” on it in the Paris metro.
“The offence is established. You were aware of the words you wrote on the shirt and their negative nature,” said the presiding judge. Mehmet D. was also ordered to undergo treatment, attend a citizenship course, and pay damages to the civil parties.
The 28-year-old had been photographed on the Paris Metro Line 13, wearing a Manchester City football shirt with the word “anti-Jewish” written on the back.
“Racism, antisemitism are not opinions! Freedom of speech is not absolute; it is regulated!” the prosecution declared in its closing remarks.
“This gentleman did not randomly pick this t-shirt from his closet. He ordered it, wore it intentionally in the street, on the metro, in a restaurant,” said the prosecutor, considering that the defendant “had an issue with Jews.”
“It may have offended some Jews, I think,” he said
During police questioning, Mehmet D. explained to investigators that he was angry about the situation in the Middle East. In court, dressed in a black puffer jacket and grey trousers, he claimed to have “bipolar disorder.” “Sometimes, I can’t control myself,” he explained.
However, the psychiatric evaluations revealed “no impairment or abolition of discernment” in the suspect, as clarified by the prosecution, which had requested the evaluations. “I wanted to write ‘anti-Tsahal’ [the Hebrew abbreviation for ‘Israel Defence Forces’], but there were too many characters, it didn’t fit,” the defendant stated, under the displeased gaze of his lawyer. “It may have offended some Jews, I think. I regret my action,” he added.
“When you wear the word ‘anti-Jewish’ on your back in a train carriage, you should remember 1942 and the deportation of Jews from France,” said Axel Metzker, lawyer for the International Movement Against Racism and Antisemitism.
In early August, the Ministry of the Interior reported 887 antisemitic incidents in France during the first half of 2024, nearly three times as many as during the same period in 2023.
