Warda A. appeared before the 17th chamber of the criminal court of Paris under the pseudonym Haneia Nakei charged with “apology of an act of terrorism by means of an online communication service” and “public incitement to hatred, violence or discrimination on the grounds of origin, ethnicity, nation, race or religion.” Born in 1986 and of French nationality, the woman was accused of making fun, in an Instagram story, of the death of an Israeli baby in connection with the Hamas attack in Israel. A ten-month suspended prison sentence was requested against her. The court has scheduled its decision for December 6th.
At the Paris judicial court, the hearing was characterized by several incidents, much like the current international situation: electric and laborious. For nearly four hours, on Wednesday afternoon, the magistrates of the 17th chamber of the criminal court of Paris first examined the priority constitutional questions and procedural nullities raised by the defense. The defendant, Warda A., 37, is accused of “apology of terrorism.” She denied being an “influencer” and a “model,” as she has been portrayed in the press. Followed on Instagram by nearly 10,000 people, she says she doesn’t have much to say to her community. “I talk about everything: current events, my days, sports classes, cooking,” she explains, her hands resting on the lectern. “I am an ordinary woman, it’s an escape.”
Last November 3rd, this mother of two, divorced, who “has not had great studies,” posted a story titled “Israel I love you” on the social network. The publication provoked numerous reactions. Warda A. attempted to make a very questionable joke about the war between Israel and Hamas. The video was broadcast in court. Facing the camera, this brunette with short hair explains, “Every time I come across the story of the baby who was put in the oven, I wonder if they put salt, pepper, did they put thyme? What did they serve it with? Don’t you wonder, you?” The shocking sequence was reported several times to the Pharos platform, managed by the national police. Several associations then filed complaints, and Gérald Darmanin, the Minister of the Interior, decided to refer the matter to the courts. The Paris public prosecutor’s office opened an investigation.
Another publication by Warda A., this time posted on Snapchat, also caused her legal troubles. She stated in the video, “I tell you, don’t be afraid to say it, Hamas is not terrorists, it’s not a terrorist movement.” She describes this organization as a “political movement, with an armed branch” that “defends Palestine.” The court’s president questioned her about her “interest” in this conflict. “Today, it’s a bit the debate of a good part of the world. So it’s normal for me to feel affected by what is happening,” replied the woman, who describes herself as an “ordinary girl who finds herself a victim of everything that is happening, who says what she thinks.” Through these publications, she “wanted to explain that we are manipulated by the propaganda [of the media] that tries to divide us.” “It’s adding horror to horror.” She swears her remarks were taken “out of context.”
“For me, October 7th is the beginning of a war. I do not question that October 7th is a terrorist act,” said the defendant. Shethen specified that, for her, “Hamas is a political movement with an armed branch.” “Several French politicians say the same thing,” she justifies. Why did she add a banner saying “Israel I love you” to her videos? “It’s a way to outsmart the algorithms. So they stop blocking my videos. It’s a form of deception,” she says. “I realized that my stories were blocked when I defended the people of Gaza.” Warda A. said she regrets the situation. “It went way too far. I have been portrayed as a racist, an anti-Semite. I received death threats, against me, my children.” She claims not to be aware of having done “something wrong.” Her remarks, she swears, were “misinterpreted.”
“What I have been trying to defend from the beginning is peace,” she adds, explaining that she feels like they are “trying to make her look like an Islamist, an extremist.” The defendant claims to get information from social networks and find other sources on Google. For her, the story of a burnt baby found in an oven “cannot be true.” “It shocks me too much. I can understand that people may not agree with what I think. I see something that is said, that is denied, a rumor.”
As the seven civil parties prepare to question her, the thirty-year-old warns that she only wants to answer the judges. The lawyers try to make her react anyway. In vain. “Not responding is a right, but it means something,” says Me Muriel Ouaknine Melki, the lawyer of the European Jewish Organization (EJO), who asks the court to enter the condemnation. Me Oudy Bloch, the lawyer for the European Jewish Organization (EJO), considers Warda A. to be “dangerous.” “Since October 7th, I am nauseated by all these abhorrent remarks made in public, and nauseated by those who refuse to see that the ideology of Hamas is the same as that of ISIS,” denounces the lawyer. “There are limits to freedom of expression,” pleads Me Gilles Pudlowski, the lawyer of the LICRA (International League against Racism and anti-Semitism).
“Thousands of people were shocked by the defendant’s remarks,” says Me Corinne Serfati, the lawyer for the National Bureau of Vigilance against anti-Semitism. “By the conviction you will pronounce, you will show that racism, anti-Semitism is not an idea but a crime.” For the public prosecutor, “presenting the perpetrators of a terrorist act in a favorable light is obviously an offense.” The magistrate, who believes the defendant “was radicalized in record time,” calls for a ten-month suspended prison sentence.
For Me Elisa Lashab, one of Warda A.’s two lawyers, her client “is being ironic aboutinformation that she knows is false.” “She told you, if it was true, she wouldn’t have done it,” she insists. The decision will be announced next December 6th.
