Police recently arrested five people for making death threats against the French teenager who said Islam is a ‘shit’ religion in a viral video.
Mila, the teenage girl (her last name is kept private), previously defended her intense atheist beliefs on French television after she offended Islam. During one outburst, she said the Quran is ‘full of hate.’
Nothing says "my religion isn't shit" like threatening teenage girls for saying otherwise.
Five arrested for death threats against French teen who said "Islam is a shit religion" https://t.co/bgJvHCAZjU
— Stephen Knight (@GSpellchecker) February 10, 2021
Quite a few people were prosecuted for threatening her last year. A 23-year-old was given a jail term sentence in October.
Gerald Darmanin, Interior Minister, tweeted that five people were currently in custody for making death threats and cyber-bullying. Then he advised that "In total, 13 individuals have been arrested as part of this case since February 2020.” Those who were detained are between 18 and 29 years old and from various parts of France.
The French teenager dealt with ferocious public reaction early last year after posting to Instagram that Islam is a ‘religion of hate’ post.
Police removed Mila from her class in her Lyon, southeastern France college, ‘for her own safety.’ She was bombarded with a deluge of threats to rape and murder her and degrading insults.
Last February, President Emmanuel Macron defended Mila, saying the constitution preserves the right to blaspheme.
"The law is clear. We have the right to blaspheme, to criticize, and to caricature religions," he said.
In February 2020, Mila was interviewed on a French television show and said that she has ‘no regrets’ about her comments. She defended her right to express her atheist views.
In another statement, Mila added, “But I would still say that in some way I have a little regret for the people I may have hurt who practice their religion in peace, and I have never wanted to attack people.” She added, “I just wanted to … slander … I wanted to talk about a religion and say what I thought about it, and that’s all.”
Mila further state to the presenter, “There are two things I regret about this story. The first is that I said it on social media because I hadn’t taken into account how big it could get and [I also regret] when I said it so vulgarly because I could have argued my point better.”
The initial threats started after Mila, who sings and whose profile displays the LGBT flag, spoke to her Instagram followers, and one of them began harassing her.
After denying the follower’s claims, she began insulting her for identifying as part of LGBT community and accused her of racism.
When the argument turned to religion, some began accusing Mila of offending “our God Allah, the one and only” and hoped that she would “burn in hell.” At that time, Mila decided to post her video criticizing Islam and religion in general.
“I hate religion, […] there is nothing but hatred in the Quran, Islam is shit, that’s what I think,” she said in the video on January 19, 2020.
“I am not at all racist. You cannot be racist towards a religion. I said what I thought. I won’t regret it. There are still people who get turned on; I clearly don’t give a shit, I say what I want, what I think.”
French media highlighted that Mila has done nothing illegal under French law because there are no regulations against ‘blasphemy’ in France.
