The French prosecution has requested a 10-month suspended prison sentence for Algerian player Youcef Atal and a fine of 45,000 euros for incitement to violence and hatred. Youcef Atal will be required to publish the imposed punishment on his personal Instagram account for a full month, pending a final ruling.
The Nice player appeared today, Monday, before the Nice court after the public prosecution initially charged him with "terrorism and public incitement to hatred or violence," before dropping the terrorism charge and sticking to the accusation of "spreading hatred based on ethnicity."
This follows Atal's sharing of a video on his Instagram account featuring a Palestinian imam calling for a "black day for the Jews," as part of his solidarity with the Gaza Strip, which led to a seven-match suspension from playing with his team, Nice, imposed by the French Football League.
During his interrogation before the Nice judge, Youcef Atal denied having any political inclinations, stating, according to French radio "RMC," "I have no relationship with any political party, I am just a football player, and honestly, when I posted the video, I did not watch its source or the side it favors, it was an oversight on my part."
He added, "I reshared the video because I saw it as a message of peace, given the circumstances at that time; unfortunately, I did not watch the video until the end, and I regret that."
The right-back for the Algerian national team continued his statement: "I did not expect that this video would cause such an uproar; I thought it was normal until the sports director of Nice called me, and I deleted the video immediately. After that, I realized the mistake I made with an apology, and honestly, I did not intend to hurt anyone."
He clarified: "I was punished and excluded from football, a game that I love very much. I apologize for the video. I am not against anyone; I wanted to convey a message of peace."
He concluded regarding his image with the Palestinian flag: "It is a photo with the Algerian national team in solidarity with Palestine. I am not anti-Semitic and I am not against anyone. I regret not watching the video to the end; I am just a football player against hatred. We have already played in Israel, and I played without any problem."
