After the publication of a list of several hundred names of political figures and activists presented as “Islamogauchists” by the far-right site “Fdesouche”, the Cnil announced that it had entered into this affair, revealed by
the journalist Taha Bouhafs, whose name appears on the Excel file shared on social networks.
The National Commission for Informatics and Freedoms (Cnil) said it had “downloaded the file as part of online checks” and “is currently analyzing its legality”. However, she specifies that the file is currently no longer online.
“How many other lists are there?” What purpose ? “
A first file, dating from November 2019, baptized “Islamo-leftists signatories of the call for the demonstration against Islamophobia of 11/10/2019” lists the signatories of this call published on Mediapart. They are classified by name, first name, organization, “position” type imam, deputies and by category: “Islam, politics, journalism, activism, trade unionism”. Among the hundreds of politicians and activists on the left are notably the LFI deputies Jean-Luc Mélenchon and Eric Coquerel, the journalist of Médiapart Edwy Plenel or the “yellow vest” Jérôme Rodrigues.
A second file, dating from 2017, lists the collectives and associations helping migrants, with their email addresses and certain telephone numbers.
“The far right makes lists on which all the people who are committed against Islamophobia are on file and a list with all the associations that come to the aid of migrants. How many other lists exist? What purpose ? », Reacted the journalist Taha Bouhafs.
At the beginning of August, I discovered the existence of a very suspicious file coming from the site of “Fdesouche”
It is an Excel table which establishes a list of ethnic and political, of what the extreme right considers to be the “Islamogauchist”, hundreds of people are listed; pic.twitter.com/ddSwSyVP74
– Taha Bouhafs (@T_Bouhafs) September 16, 2021
“I ask the closure of this site and Mr. Darmanin what he intends to do against the authors of this site who are known”, also declared on BFMTV the deputy of Seine-Saint-Denis Eric Coquerel (LFI).
A “large number of people on file” will file a complaint
For the “Fdesouche” site, there is nothing illegal. “There is nothing, it is bogus. We have just taken a list of the signatories of the call to demonstrate against homophobia, nothing more. All of this data is public, ”said spokesperson Pierre Sautarel.
Lawyer Arié Alimi, who himself appears on the list, said that “a large number of data subjects” had decided to file a complaint “for illegal processing of personal data”. “This file with the consequences and the nauseating hints is only the latest avatar of a media-political campaign targeting political activists, academics, researchers, people of civil society and artists because of their faith and / or their political and union convictions, ”added Me Alimi in a press release.