National team
Criticism of gesture: Rüdiger and DFB take action against Reichelt
After an Instagram post about Ramadan, national player Antonio Rüdiger feels slandered. photo
© Arne Dedert/dpa
After an Instagram post about Ramadan, national player Rüdiger feels slandered. He and the DFB are taking action against a journalist. There were similar discussions at the U17 World Cup.
In his post on March 11, the practicing Muslim posted a photo of himself in a white robe on a prayer mat. The index finger of his right hand points upwards. “May the Almighty accept our fasting and our prayers,” wrote the 31-year-old as a greeting to Ramadan. This year the fasting month runs from March 10th to April 9th.
In Reichelt’s opinion, who now works at the “Nius” portal, Rüdiger made an Islamist gesture by raising his index finger. The professional from Spain’s record champions Real Madrid and the DFB are now using legal means to defend themselves against this representation.
Criminal complaint to the public prosecutor’s office
The defender feels vilified and slandered by Reichelt’s criticism. He therefore filed a criminal complaint with the Berlin public prosecutor’s office, and the association reported the matter to the Central Office for Combating Internet Crime (ZIT) of the Frankfurt/Main Public Prosecutor’s Office.
The Rüdiger management and the DFB confirmed the advertisements to the German Press Agency. “Bild” first reported. The criminal complaint against Reichelt is available to dpa. The complaint is about insult or slander, inflammatory insult and sedition. Rüdiger himself did not want to comment on the matter.
The discussion about Rüdiger’s two-week-old post was sparked by Reichelt shortly after the attack in Moscow, which was claimed by the terrorist organization Islamic State. The journalist stuck to his assessment of Rüdiger’s gesture and explained on , are intimidation methods.”
Regarding the explanation and meaning of the religious gesture shown by Rüdiger, the Federal Ministry of the Interior wrote upon request: “The so-called ‘tauhid’ finger is considered in Islam as a symbol of the unity and uniqueness of God. The gesture is widespread among Muslims all over the world.”
Interior Ministry: To be understood as a confession of faith
According to the ministry’s assessment, the so-called “tauhid” finger should be understood as a confession of faith and should therefore be classified as unproblematic in terms of public safety. “This applies regardless of the fact that Islamist groups appropriate this symbol and misuse it for their own purposes.”
In this respect, showing the “so-called ‘tawhid’ finger in certain contexts can be viewed as a sign of Salafist or Islamist radicalization if actors consciously make use of this ambiguity.” This depends on the individual case consideration.
The Frankfurt/Main public prosecutor’s office emphasized that the DFB’s report to the Central Office for Combating Internet Crime was not a criminal complaint in the classic sense. As part of the cooperation with the association against hate postings on the Internet (“hate speech”), the ZIT received a report from the association about tweets that referred to an Instagram post by Rüdiger. A spokesman for the authority told the dpa. No further information could be provided about the specific case.
When processing corresponding reports as part of the cooperation with the DFB, the ZIT first checks whether the reported statement is relevant to criminal law and, if this is the case, leads the investigation to identify the suspects. The ZIT is the Federal Criminal Police Office’s first point of contact for internet crimes when local jurisdiction in Germany is still unclear or in mass proceedings against a large number of suspects nationwide.
Also an issue at the U17 World Cup
The U-17 World Cup at the end of last year was also about outstretched index fingers. There were hate comments under a picture posted by the DFB with Charles Herrmann, Almugera Kabar, Paris Brunner (all Borussia Dortmund) and Fayssal Harchaoui (1. FC Köln).
The picture of the four future world champions was taken on November 21st after the 3-2 victory in the round of 16 of the U17 World Cup against the USA. Two players each showed their right index finger, but not pointing upwards like Rüdiger did.
At the time, the DFB condemned racist insults and hostility. “We are proud of the diversity in our U17s, who are currently leaving their hearts on the pitch in Indonesia. The commitment to diversity is firmly anchored in the DFB statutes – as are the values of tolerance and respect,” the association wrote on the official Facebook page of the DFB juniors.
It also said: “If you do not share these values, please unfollow us. Discriminatory and racist comments have no place here and will be deleted accordingly. We will take legal action against offensive content.”