French court freezes honorary citizenship for Marwan Barghouti

A French court has nullified a Paris suburb’s decision to offer honorary citizenship to the Palestinian activist Marwan Barghouti, who is currently serving multiple prison sentences in Israel. The Administrative Court of Montreuil ruled that the June decision made by the Aubervilliers municipality, which is run by the Communist Party, could affect public order.

The judges said that the municipality’s decision involves a major misjudgement because it is about an issue that is related to French foreign policy towards an international conflict. The ruling was made after the National Bureau for Vigilance Against Anti-Semitism filed a complaint against the Aubervilliers decision.

The municipality decided to honour Barghouti because it regards him as “a man of peace and dialogue working for a peaceful resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.”