France – deputy governor fired after publishing an anti Israel article

“Even if he intended to publish an article on the Ming vases, he should have notified us, this is the only norm we operate upon”. In a press conference held on Sunday, March 23 at La Rochelle, the governor of Charente-Maritime, Jacques Reiller, explained why his colleague, Bruno Guigue, the deputy governor of Saintes, was fired from duty claiming that the man breached his commitment to moderation.

We heard of Mr. Guigue firing on Saturday, following a violent anti Israel article published on the oumma.com website. In this text published on March 13 under the heading “When the Israeli lobby rises against the U.N.”, Mr. Guigue explicitly indicates that, “Israel is the only country in the world where snipers shoot young girls leaving their school”. He also jokes about the fact that “in prisons, due to religious customs, torture is terminated during the Sabbath”.

“He will return to serve as a civilian administrator. Mr. Guigue himself resigned from duty” emphasized the governor in his statement to the press. The Minister of Interior, Michèle Alliot-Marie who was updated about the article on Wednesday, decided to immediate end Mr. Guigue’s service, as announced on Saturday by the Ministry of Interior.

On Sunday, the oumma.com website claimed, “The punishment he received serves as proof that it is not possible to utter fair criticism in France”. Bruno Guigue, a graduate of the administrative school, the École Normale Supérieure, published several articles on the Middle East: a war of words and articles on the Middle East.

The civilian administrator who in the past fall was borrowed for the deputy governor post, “is returning to his original place”, explained the Charente-Maritime governor. He “returns to serve as a civilian administrator” serving under a different public body.

Date: March 23, 2008

Source: Lemonde.fr

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