TEHRAN– Human rights activist Firas Al Najim believes French President Emmanuel Macron should be held accountable for promoting hate speech.

“Macron should be arrested and prosecuted for hate crimes,” Najim, manager of Canadian Defenders For Human Rights, told Mehr News Agency in an exclusive interview following the controversial remarks of Macron who had associated Islam with terrorism.

Here is the full text of the interview:

What do you think about the recent anti-Islamic remarks of French President Emmanuel Macron?

I think this is a grand attack on a grand figure such as Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) that is beloved in the world and especially by the French Muslims and all Muslims worldwide. This shows the animosity of the highest power in France and this has a historical dark face that is now unfortunately reviving. It is also an attack on the constitution that was supposedly established to protect human rights and French citizens' beliefs.

What are the main goals behind these statements? Why does he generalize the action of one person to the whole Islamic world? Will such actions incite violence in society?

I believe his goals are quite clear that Macron wants to cause disunity between Muslims and other faiths or ideologies in a volatile time when the Azerbaijan-Armenia war is being exploited by certain parties to spark a war between Muslims and Christians and this really would divert people from that. 

Palestine-Israel is the essential world problem & crisis. It’s also quite clear that the Israeli illegitimate regime and their lobby in France have a big hand and benefit from this major sedition. It’s an Islamophobic narrative and terminology used by biased systems and many media networks repeatedly to brainwash people with the words 'Islam' and 'terrorism' together so that it is programmed in the peoples' minds to hate Islam and Muslims and it serves for future planned wars and colonial control projects by France or their allies in the Islamic world.

Tehraners protest Macron's remarks in front of France's embassy on Oct. 28 (Mahmoud Rahimi/Mehr News Agency)

Given the significant population of Muslims in France, can Macron’s remarks spread hatred in French society and polarize it?

Yes, they will cause major divisions & problems between the French Citizens as there are many French Muslim citizens and also many French citizens that hate religion due to many years of the French government’s propaganda fighting religious rights such as the ban on hijab and they do it in the name of democracy and human rights when it is absolutely the opposite. Clashes will inevitably arise now more especially that the head of the state empowers extremism and extremists with no borders or limits.

Can we consider insulting the divine religions compatible with the principle of freedom of expression?

Insulting divine religions is a hate crime and hate speech is not freedom of expression in any way. Everything in life has its rules and limits and especially when the repercussions are clearly causing a whole society to fall into divisions and destruction. Macron should be arrested and prosecuted for hate crimes as he is more accountable than any citizen in France; president and leaders always have more responsibility and accountability than basic citizens. We pray to see justice very soon and an end to all these injustices. As Martin Luther King said, “injustice anywhere is injustice everywhere”.  We must all stand together as humans of conscience and fight injustices for world peace and justice.