HIBAPRESS – Sports
French-Algerian TikToker Sofia Benlemmane has reignited controversy in France after a video of her celebrating Algeria's victory in Lyon went viral on social media. She repeated phrases described as insulting and hate-filled, including: "You colonized us, and now you're in trouble, this country is ours and we do what we want in it."
The video spread on the "X" platform, where it was shared and translated into French by Algerian political activist residing in France, Chawki Ben Zahra, who considered that these slogans were repeated among a group of Algerian national team supporters during celebrations of qualifying for the second round of the African Cup of Nations held in Morocco, which sparked a wave of widespread criticism. On the background of these developments, the governor of the Rhône region, Fabienne Buccio, announced that she had notified the public prosecutor of these events, based on Article 40 of the French Code of Criminal Procedure, which obliges the authorities to inform the Public Prosecution of any actions that may constitute crimes. The decision to open an investigation or judicial follow-up remains with the Public Prosecution. This case comes at a time when Sofia Benlemmane is still under the influence of a previous judicial conviction, as she was previously sentenced in April to nine months in prison with a suspended sentence, with her being subjected to a two-year probation period, in addition to 200 hours of community service, after she published a violent video on the "TikTok" platform. The court also convicted her at the time of charges related to public incitement to commit crimes, threats of murder through images, and public insult due to sexual orientation and religion. The ruling also included obliging her to delete her accounts on social media (TikTok, X, Facebook) for six months, and preventing her from creating new accounts during the same period, as well as paying compensation of 500 euros for each of four civil parties.
