Paris
Four Muslim groups have taken the best-selling French novelist Michel Houellebecq to court for “inciting religious hatred.” They cite an interview with the literary magazine Lire in which Houellebecq said that Islam is “the dumbest religion” of all. “When you read the Koran, you’re shattered,” he said. “The Bible, at least, is beautifully written because the Jews have a heck of a literary talent.” The groups also charge that in Houellebecq’s latest novel, Platform, the protagonist—a man who admits to feeling “a quiver of glee” whenever a Palestinian terrorist is killed—is anti-Arab. If convicted under France’s hate-speech laws, the award-winning writer could face a $50,000 fine or a year in jail.
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