Salafists of directors cons-attack to justice – Le Figaro

The authors of the controversial documentary have filed an appeal with the Paris Administrative Court to cancel the prohibition of the film decided by the Ministry of Culture.

Margo Cinema, the company publishing the documentary Salafis , filed two complaints with the administrative Court of Paris against the decision of the Ministry of Culture to ban the movie minors under 18 years, according to a statement from his lawyers Friday. Led by François Margolin, co-director of the film, she filed a request for summary suspension and the other for annulment. The hearing for interim relief (emergency) is fixed to 17 February.

Salafist s controversial film about radical Islam Francois Margolin, therefore, and the Mauritanian journalist Lemine Ould Salem, was forbidden to minors January 27th by the now former culture minister Fleur Pellerin because of the “extreme violence” of some scenes broadcast without comment. “This ban has had consequences on the one hand make it impossible to broadcast the film on television, and especially by the two chains that had financed, and on the other, has forced the cancellation of the all screenings organized by teachers, municipalities, associations wishing, from the film, sensitize youngsters to topics discussed are there, “say the lawyers Patrick Klugman and Ivan Terel.

“the ban (…) constitutes an unprecedented act of censorship”

“in this, the ban to minors under 18 years of film (… ) is an unprecedented act of censorship, as applied for the first time since the War of Algeria in a documentary feature film, in the context of a state of emergency still in force, “the lawyers argue. The decision of the Ministry of Culture according to them is “manifestly disproportionate interference with freedom of expression and the right to information inherent in any democratic society”.

The film, which wanted to show the jihadists ” as they are, “call on leaders of Al Qaeda in Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) and Salafi religious authorities. It is interspersed with images of jihadist propaganda and videos, without voice or comments. Filmed in Mali, Iraq, Algeria, Tunisia and Mauritania, he shows very crudely the application of sharia every day.

It is extremely rare that the ban on under 18, reserved usually to films deemed too violent or too pornographic, key documentary.