The German central defender of Real Madrid Antonio Rüdiger and the German Football Federation (DFB) have denounced a German journalist in Germany for slander due to his criticism of a gesture the player made in a photograph on the occasion of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. .
Rüdiger's manager and the DFB confirmed the complaint, made to the Berlin Prosecutor's Office by the German national team player and in Frankfurt by the federation, according to the digital version of the weekly Zeit, which indicates that it is a case "for insult or slander, incitement to offense and incitement to hatred."
In a photograph posted by Rüdiger on March 11 on the social network Instagram, the practicing Muslim is preparing to pray and his index finger of his right hand points to the sky.
In his congratulatory message for Ramadan to all Muslims in the world, Rüdiger also wrote "may the Almighty accept our fasting and prayers."
Journalist Julian Reichelt, former editor-in-chief of the sensational newspaper BILD, considered this gesture an Islamist greeting that terrorists have "completely appropriated for two decades."
He stated on his X social network account that this gesture "has unquestionably become the greeting of the Islamic State and Islamist murderers around the world."
According to what the player's lawyers told BILD, "as a convinced believer, (Rüdiger) is a peace-loving person" who rejects any type of violence. Interpreting the gesture as an "Islamist greeting" is "incorrect" and "deliberately polarizing." It is the index finger of Islam's Tauhid symbol which essentially means "there is no god but Allah," they maintained.
The journalist considers the demand of the player and the DFB a "method of intimidation". "The raised index finger of Islam, with which terrorists around the world celebrate their murders, has no place in Germany. I will never let anyone stop me from saying that," he alleged in media.
Previously, upon receiving strong criticism on that social network for his comments, Reichelt said that "Antonio Rüdiger should worry us more than a Nike shirt" after the DFB changed its sponsorship of the German company Adidas for that of the American brand after seven decades of colaboration.
