(European Conservative) A book that has not yet gone on sale is already causing tremors in French politics. It is Les Complices du mal by Franco-Syrian journalist Omar Youssef Souleimane, and will be published in early October. The volume, the result of extensive field research, reveals the links between leaders of La France Insoumise (LFI), the far-left party of Jean-Luc Mélenchon, and Islamist organizations close to the Muslim Brotherhood and their growing influence in French political and social life.
The controversy erupted when LFI’s lawyers sent a legal notice to the publisher in an attempt to stop its release, accusing it of “attacking the honor of the movement.” Many interpreted this as an attempt at censorship: the book was not yet in circulation, and the complainants could hardly have read it. For the author himself, this reaction shows that he has struck a nerve: “I fled Syria to live in a free country, and thirteen years later I find politicians who want to silence me,” laments Souleimane.
