Hollande as Hitler?

A Moroccan magazine said Friday it had chosen to depict President François Hollande as Hitler on its cover in order to draw attention to escalating anti-Muslim acts in France.

The weekly Al Watan Al An decided to publish the incendiary picture, in which a photoshopped Hollande sports a Hitleresque moustache and swastika armband, two days after the 70th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz concentration camp.

“Will the French do to Muslims what the Nazis did to Jews?” Al Watan Al An asks on the cover, drawing a questionable link between the systematic extermination of European Jews by the Nazi regime during World War II and isolated acts of violence directed toward Muslims in the wake of terrorist attacks in the French capital.

Contacted by FRANCE 24, the editor of the magazine said he did not regret the comparison between the two men nor the timing of the publication.

“I chose this photomontage myself and I fully assume responsibility for it,” Abderrahim Ariri said by telephone from Casablanca. “Since the Paris attacks I have received many emails from fellow Moroccan Muslims who live in France and who tell me they are living through hell.”

“They are in danger… I want to send a strong message to French authorities. I want François Hollande to step up security for Muslims, for their places of worship. If not, there could be abuses,” Ariri added.

According to France’s National Observatory of Islamophobia, 128 anti-Muslim acts were recorded across France in the two weeks that followed the massacre perpetrated by masked gunman at the offices of satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo – as many incidents recorded by the rights group all of last year.

Brothers Chérif and Saïd Kouachi yelled, “Allahu Akbar!” (God is great) in Arabic as they executed 12 people at the Charlie Hebdo offices on January 7. The brothers claimed they had avenged the Prophet Mohammed, a frequent target of Charlie Hebdo’s past satire, as they fled the crime scene.

Two subsequent attacks were perpetrated over the next two days by an associate of the Kouachi brothers, killing another police officer and four Jewish citizens.

Muslim leaders in France and abroad were quick to denounce the bloodbath and join in massive unity rallies across the country in the days following the shootings.

Hollande and Prime Minister Manuel Valls have denounced attacks on Muslims in France, sending police and soldiers to protect mosques and Muslim community centres.

‘Lampooning’ Hollande

The Moroccan magazine could now face sanctions for dressing Hollande up as Hitler.

According to Article 52 of Morocco’s code governing the press, “publicly offending heads of state, leaders of government, and foreign ministers of foreign countries is punishable with a prison sentence between one month and one year and a fine between 10,000 to 100,000 dirhams [1,000 to 10,000 euros]”.

Ariri called the law “completely unfair,” saying he supports greater freedom of expression for the Moroccan press. “French journalists have the right to caricature the Prophet. Why can’t I do the same with the French head of state?” he asked.

The controversial picture could nevertheless worsen already strained ties between Morocco and France. The two countries have struggled to get past a series of relatively small diplomatic incidents, and have traded barbs, putting relations on ice.

Despite a shared interest in battling armed extremists, the North African country suspended bilateral judicial and security cooperation with France in February 2014, and Morocco’s top diplomat even called off an official trip to Paris last week.