Breaking:

Bundesliga, 31st matchday: Bayer Leverkusen against VfB Stuttgart in the live ticker

Bundesliga: Leipzig wins top game against BVB – Bayern wins thanks to Kane

Women’s 6 Nations – The English sweep the Blues and offer themselves a new grand slam

31st matchday: Ducksch as Augsburg fright: planning security for Bremen

Antonio Rüdiger explains religious gesture: “Don’t let me be denigrated as an Islamist”

0

Posting about Ramadan
Rüdiger explains religious gesture: “Don’t let me be denigrated as an Islamist”

Antonio Rüdiger: “Violence and terrorism are absolutely unacceptable”

© Christian Charisius / DPA

After an Instagram post about Ramadan, Antonio Rüdiger was accused by a journalist of showing an Islamist greeting. Now the national player has made a statement about it.

National soccer player After his much-discussed Instagram post at the start of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, Antonio Rüdiger “decisively distanced himself from any kind of extremism and accusations of Islamism.” The “Bild” newspaper published a comprehensive statement from the Real Madrid professional on Wednesday evening, who commented for the first time on the photo that he had already published on his account on March 11th. In the post, the practicing Muslim posted a photo of himself in a white robe on a prayer mat. The index finger of his right hand points to the sky. “May the Almighty accept our fasting and our prayers,” wrote Rüdiger as a greeting to Ramadan.

Now he explained in writing: “The gesture that I used is the so-called tawheed finger. In Islam, this is considered a symbol of the unity and uniqueness of God. The gesture is widespread among Muslims all over the world and was only… The last few days have also been classified as unproblematic by the Federal Ministry of the Interior.” In recent days, the photo has been “used by individuals to make unfounded accusations,” the professional wrote. He was probably also referring to the journalist Julian Reichelt, the former editor-in-chief of Germany’s largest tabloid “Bild”.

Antonio Rüdiger and DFB reported Julian Reichelt

According to Reichelt, who now works at the Nius portal, Rüdiger raised his index finger and made an Islamist gesture. Reichelt’s criticism led to Rüdiger filing a criminal complaint against him with the Berlin public prosecutor’s office, and the German Football Association (DFB) also reported the matter to the Central Office for Combating Internet Crime (ZIT) of the Frankfurt/Main Public Prosecutor’s Office.

“Violence and terrorism are absolutely unacceptable. I stand for peace and tolerance,” wrote Rüdiger: “Respect and tolerance are fundamental principles that we all represent in our family.”

It’s about creating an atmosphere

But he also recognizes “that due to insufficient attention, I gave third parties the chance to deliberately misinterpret my posting in order to divide and polarize,” emphasized Rüdiger: “But I will not offer a platform for division and radicalization, therefore “I have decided to make a clear statement after our two successful international matches.” He doesn’t allow himself to be “denigrated as an Islamist” and is therefore taking legal action: “This is about creating an atmosphere and dividing people; I will always resolutely defend myself against this.”