Belgian Politician Sentenced for Refusing Eye Contact with Female TV Host

The co-founder of the I.S.L.A.M Party is no stranger to controversy. The Muslim Post, which also recalls his antics, including his proposal to separate men and women on Belgian buses, presents him as a man used to controversies.

In the case in point, according to the online media, the facts he is accused of date back a little over a year. Redouane Ahrouch had participated in the "C’est pas tous les jours dimanche" program. It turned out that during the television appearance, "he had refused to greet and look at the commentator Emmanuelle Praet," the media continues.

This affair sparked a lively controversy within Belgian society, which, far from fading, has just been stirred up again. Indeed, according to Sudpresse, Redouane Ahrouch has just been sentenced by the Brussels Criminal Court to six months in prison with probation for this television episode. Sudpresse recalls that "at the time of the show, many viewers had wondered whether it was a provocation or real convictions on the part of Redouane Ahrouch." On this question, it is rather Lionel Remy who has his own idea.

Indeed, for this specialist and defector from the Belgian party, and a doctoral student in anthropology at the Interdisciplinary Center for the Study of Islam in the Contemporary World, "provocation is the party’s media strategy, which has also been successful in terms of visibility". Sudpresse recalls that after being fired from his bus company following his remarks on the separation of men and women, "it is once again in the judicial pages that Redouane Ahrouch is making headlines".