Union des mosquées de France files complaint against Houellebecq

The Union des mosquées de France (UMF), a federation of mosques in France, filed a complaint at the Nanterre court, west of Paris, in connection with an interview given by the novelist Michel Houellebecq in late 2022.

The interview was conducted by the essayist Michel Onfray and published in the magazine Front populaire, a sovereignist review. In it, Houellebecq made remarks about Muslims and Islam in France that drew strong criticism from Muslim organisations and some political figures.

The complaint targeted three people: Houellebecq himself, Onfray, and Stéphane Simon, the director of the publication. The UMF argued that the statements went beyond acceptable debate and should be examined by a court under French law on incitement to hatred.

The case mattered because Houellebecq is among France's best-known writers, and his novels have long explored Islam and French society. The complaint put the line between literary provocation, opinion in the press and punishable speech before the judiciary. It laid the groundwork for the later charges against him over the same interview.