Lawyer for the Union des mosquées de France says free expression cannot justify everything
Najwa El HaïtéLawyer for the Union des mosquées de France, a complainant in the case, speaking to AFP
Responding to Houellebecq's lawyers, Najwa El Haïté, who represents the Union des mosquées de France, says freedom of expression cannot justify everything and that provocation to hatred, when established, is not part of the debate of ideas. She says it is now for the courts to assess the evidence, with respect for the presumption of innocence.
Responding to
Houellebecq's 2022 remarks about Muslims contain no exhortation, even implicit, and therefore fall within freedom of opinion and expression.
“Freedom of expression is fundamental, but it cannot justify everything (Translated from French. Original: La liberté d'expression est fondamentale mais elle ne saurait tout justifier)”
Reporting
Reporting
Where this statement fits
Michel Houellebecq is placed under formal investigation over 2022 remarks about Muslims; his lawyers say the words fall within free expression
On November 10, 2026, an investigating judge at the Nanterre court, west of Paris, placed the novelist Michel Houellebecq under formal investigation (mis en examen) for complicity in provocation to discrimination, hatred or violence against a group because of its origin or religion, Le Figaro, AFP and BFMTV report, citing a source close to the case. A mise en examen is a step in a French judicial investigation, not a conviction. The case concerns remarks about Muslims in a conversation with the philosopher Michel Onfray, published in a special issue of Onfray's magazine Front Populaire in November 2022. AFP quotes Houellebecq as saying there that the wish of the native-born French population was not that Muslims assimilate but that they stop robbing and attacking them, or else that they leave. The Union des mosquées de France (UMF) and the anti-racism group MRAP filed the complaints behind the investigation. The Grande Mosquée de Paris filed one in December 2022 and dropped it in January 2023 after meeting the writer. His lawyers say the remarks contain no exhortation and fall within freedom of opinion and expression. The UMF's lawyer says freedom of expression is fundamental but cannot justify everything.
Source and context
Reporting
About this source
AFP report in French, published by France 24 and carried by Yahoo Actualités. It reports that an investigating judge in Nanterre placed Michel Houellebecq under formal investigation on November 10, 2026, quotes the November 2022 remark at issue, and carries statements from his lawyers, Thibault de Montbrial and Louis Cailliez, and from Najwa El Haïté, lawyer for the Union des mosquées de France.
Archived copy (opens in a new tab)Reporting
About this source
Le Nouvel Obs report in French. It summarizes the November 2022 remarks, the Grande Mosquée de Paris complaint and its withdrawal in January 2023, the complaints that the MRAP and the Union des mosquées de France kept, and comments from the MRAP, the federation's lawyer and Houellebecq's lawyers.
Archived copy (opens in a new tab)Before the quotation
AFP reports that Houellebecq's lawyers said the remarks contained no exhortation and fell within freedom of opinion and expression.
After the quotation
She adds that provocation to hatred, when it is established, is not part of the debate of ideas, and that it is now for the courts to weigh the evidence while respecting the presumption of innocence (translation).
How this statement is classified
The label describes this statement's response within the context above.
Why this label?
The reference point is Michel Houellebecq's November 2022 remarks about Muslims in Front Populaire, now under judicial investigation. Speaking for the federation whose complaint led to the investigation, El Haïté rejects the defense that the remarks are protected expression, which condemns them. She leaves the finding to the court and cites the presumption of innocence, but that is a legal caveat rather than a condition on her client's position, so mixed or conditional does not fit.
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More from this case
Read the full caseRikki Schlott says France treats Houellebecq as a greater threat than rioters
“The man who defends his nation's spirit and integrity is treated as a greater threat than the man who burns that culture to the ground.”Read statement
Omar Youssef Souleimane calls the remarks a forecast and the case a use of the courts by Islamists
“It was a forecast, the vision of a future in which such violence would take place (Translated from French. Original: C'était une prospective, la vision d'un avenir où de telles violences auraient lieu)”Read statement
MRAP says it never accepted Houellebecq's explanations and kept its complaint
Mouvement contre le racisme et pour l'amitié entre les peuples
“We never considered that these explanations held up; withdrawing our complaint was never in question (Translated from French. Original: Nous n'avons jamais considéré que ces explications tenaient la route, il n'a jamais été question de retirer notre plainte)”Read statement
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The Dispute Index. "Lawyer for the Union des mosquées de France says free expression cannot justify everything". First published: 2026-11-12. Last updated: 2026-11-12. https://disputeindex.com/events/8673-responding-to-houellebecq-s-lawyers-najwa-el-ha%C3%AFt%C3%A9