robert harley writes chuck murcko wrote but i must feel obligated to defend to the death your right to do so je désapprouve ce que vous dites mais je défendrai jusqu à ma mort votre droit de le dire arouet le jeune dit voltaire NUMBER NUMBER here s hoping that tradition perseveres for the novelist currently on trial in paris for calling islam the stupidest religion URL tuesday september NUMBER NUMBER NUMBER am est french writer tried as anti islam protest erupts by caroline brothers paris reuters provocative french novelist michel houellebecq faced a paris court on tuesday for allegedly inciting racial hatred by calling islam the stupidest religion and its holy book the koran a depressing read the case brought against him by four muslim groups is a cause celebre reminiscent of the salman rushdie affair pitting freedom of expression against religious sensitivities the muslim groups which include the mecca based world islamic league and the paris mosque accuse the writer of insulting islam in an interview with the literary magazine lire during last year s launch of his novel plateforme lire is also on trial over the remarks which have taken on an added significance in france in the atmosphere of heightened sensitivity and concern about islam following the september NUMBER attacks by muslim radicals in the united states shortly after the trial started NUMBER people in the courtroom stripped off their shirts to reveal t shirts saying no to the censure of the imams and marianne veiled marianne raped a reference to the female symbol of the french republic freedom of expression freedom of expression they and other houellebecq supporters chanted after they were thrown out of the courtroom at the main law courts in central paris while intellectuals argued before the trial that houellebecq should be free to write what he wants lyon mosque rector kamel kabtan retorted we are for freedom of expression but not for insulting communities bete noire houellebecq NUMBER the bete noire of contemporary french literature is no stranger to controversy he offended conservatives and the politically correct left with his NUMBER novel les particules elementaires atomised in english paris mosque rector dalil boubakeur says muslims have been insulted once before by houellebecq who had the main character in plateforme admit he felt a quiver of glee every time a palestinian terrorist was killed the world islamic league the lyon mosque and the national federation of muslims in france have joined the paris mosque in bringing houellebecq to trial france s human rights league joined them as a civil party saying houellebecq s comments amounted to islamophobia and deserved to be sanctioned as part of the league s struggle against discrimination and racism the paris mosque has hired jean marc varaut one of france s leading trial lawyers whose past clients include maurice papon the former official condemned in NUMBER for nazi era crimes against humanity for sending jews to death camps restoring blasphemy houellebecq s lawyer emmanuel pierrat argues that the case effectively re establishes the notion of blasphemy despite the fact that france as a secular state has no such law and says houellebecq s opponents want to deny him freedom of expression he also argues that the interview in lire truncated a six hour conversation and houellebecq was not given the chance to approve the article before it appeared houellebecq s publisher flammarion has distanced itself from the author whose comments some say may have cost him france s prestigious goncourt prize for which he had been a contender the novelist who lives outside cork ireland writes in a detached style about a bleak world in which people have forgotten how to love translated into NUMBER languages atomised incensed france s NUMBER generation with its scathing descriptions of the hippie era but won him france s november prize in NUMBER and the impac award one of the world s biggest fiction prizes losing his case may mean a year in jail or a NUMBER NUMBER fine gordon 