French football star Karim Benzema has filed a defamation lawsuit against France’s interior minister for accusing him of having links with the Muslim Brotherhood, local media reports.
Gérald Darmanin said in October that Benzema “has a notorious link” with the Sunni Muslim Islamist group.
The comment “undermines” his honour and reputation, Benzema’s lawyer said.
The Muslim Brotherhood is banned in several countries, including Egypt, Russia, and Saudi Arabia.
Mr Darmanin’s comment in October came after the player tweeted his support for the people of Gaza as “victims again of unjust bombardments which spare neither women nor children”.
Noting his failure to express similar sympathy for the estimated 1,300 Israeli victims that Hamas killed on 7 October, Mr Darmanin said the former French striker was “well-known for his links with the Muslim Brotherhood”.
“We are fighting the hydra that is the Muslim Brotherhood, because it creates an atmosphere of jihadism,” the politician told conservative TV channel CNews.
Karim Benzema, 36, who plays in Saudi Arabia and is a Muslim, quickly issued a denial and threatened legal action against the minister for slander.
In his 92-page complaint, reported widely in French media on Tuesday, he says he “has never had the slightest link with the Muslim Brotherhood organisation, nor to (his) knowledge with anyone who claims to be a member of it”.