Alkarama and a group of human rights organisations have signed a joint statement in support of French researcher François Burgat, who is facing judicial harassment in France for his outspoken positions on the crimes committed against the Palestinian people, particularly in Gaza. Alkarama has also included the case of François Burgat in its report submitted today to Simon Walker, Chief of the Rule of Law and Democracy Section of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), on the implementation of UN General Assembly Resolution 78/210 on terrorism and human rights, adopted on 19 December 2007. Alkarama will also submit a communication on François Burgat to a number of UN human rights procedures, including the Special Rapporteur on the right to freedom of opinion and expression and the Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism.
Text of the joint statement:
The undersigned human rights organisations express their full solidarity with the prominent French academic and researcher François Burgat, a member of Alkarama's Advisory Committee, against attempts to silence him by prosecuting him on trumped up charges for defending the right of the Palestinian people to exist and for rejecting the genocide they are being subjected to.
The researcher is due to appear before the French courts on 24 April 2025 on charges of “apology for terrorism” following the publication of statements in which he expressed his humanitarian and political position on the current offensive against Gaza. One of the charges is the republication of an excerpt from one of his books published in 2016, described by the prosecutor as “a long panegyric of Hamas”.
The trial follows a complaint filed by the European Jewish Organization, a French association that, under the guise of fighting “anti-Semitism, anti-Zionism and the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement”, is in fact fighting against any voice critical of the Israeli government's extremist policies.
We consider this trial to be a serious threat to freedom of opinion and expression, an attempt to criminalise solidarity with the Palestinian people and to silence free voices defending justice and human rights in the face of crimes against civilians in the Occupied Territories.
François Burgat is one of the impartial intellectual and academic voices dedicated to understanding the Arab world and has always been a champion of human dignity, justice, the freedom of peoples and the rejection of tyranny. He has always been one of the few Western academic voices who dared to criticise the West and its colonial and arrogant view of the Islamic world, which has made him the target of systematic campaigns of disinformation and persecution.
The undersigned organisations:
- Strongly condemn this judicial persecution and consider it a retreat from the principles on which the French Republic is founded and the French government's obligations under international human rights law.
- Reject attempts to stifle freedom of expression and to criminalise sympathy for the victims of the Israeli occupation in occupied Palestine.
- Call on the French authorities to respect their international human rights obligations, in particular the right to freedom of opinion and expression.
- Declare its full solidarity with the academic researcher and thinker François Burgat, and call for the widest international campaign of solidarity with him.
Justice and Freedom for François Burgat and for all defenders of justice and human rights.
Signatory organisations:
1. 1. Alkarama, Geneva
2. Sam for Rights and Freedoms, Geneva
3. International Media Network for Palestine, Istanbul
4. Najda for Human Rights, Birmingham
5. Yemeni Media Club, Istanbul
6. Association of Victims of Torture, Geneva
7. Al-Shehab Centre for Human Rights, London
8. Adalah Foundation for Human Rights - JHR
9. General Association for Human Rights, Democracy and Solidarity, France
10. Free Voice, France
11. Intersections, Amman, Jordan
12. National Society for Human Rights, Jordan
13. Canadian Observatory for Rights and Freedoms, Canada
14. Al-Aman Against Racial Discrimination, Libya
15. International Association of Syrian Jurists, Istanbul
16. Dar Al-Yaqeen Association, Jordan
17. Federation of Independent Trade Unions, Jordan
1. AFD International Human Rights Organization, Brussels
19. Jordanian women’s union- Jordan
20. Phenix center – Jordan
21. The International Humanitarian Lawand Youth Initiative IHLYI
22. SAWT for Human Rights