France launches probe into 'profiling' of Muslims by far-right website

PARIS

French prosecutors on Wednesday launched a preliminary investigation into the "profiling" of Muslims by a far-right website.

Taha Bouhafs, a French journalist, stated on social media that the Paris Prosecutor's Office has launched the investigation into the Fdesouche website that has reportedly labelled Muslims and people close to them as “Islamo-leftists” or “l'islamo-gauchisme” in French.

The action was taken when Bouhafs' lawyer, Arie Alimi, lodged a formal complaint with the Prosecutor's Office after being approached by over 100 victims about the illegal listing of personal data on the website since September 2021.

Bouhafs, whose name appears in the list, claims to have discovered the purported profiling by the far-right Fdesouche website.

On June 11, 2019, he was arrested while filming an undocumented workers' protest in Paris.

According to the complaint, more than 300 people have been labeled as "Islamo-leftist" on the website since August 2021.

The term Islamo-leftist was used by academic Pierre-Andre Taguieff to depict a connection between leftists and Muslims to "bring down France."

Feiza Ben Mohamed, an Anadolu Agency France reporter, was also featured on the controversial list.

Previously, the French Data Protection Agency (CNIL) declared that they, too, had launched an investigation into the matter.

It is noted that the majority of the names in the list are people who signed an online petition to join the November 2019 march against Islamophobia.

Members of the far-left La France Insoumise (LFI) party, as well as left-wing senators and deputies, were also included in the list.

Similarly, it is reported that some associations supporting migrants are also flagged on the same website.