PARIS (AA) – French Culture Minister Fleur Pellerin has approved the broadcast of the controversial documentary “Salafists” but has barred minors from seeing it because of its sensitive content.

 
Pellerin said in a statement Wednesday she ruled that the movie was unsuitable for individuals under 18 after watching the film that documents life under the rule of radical Islamist groups — a rare move for documentaries in France.

 
“I chose to follow the opinion of the Committee [for film classification] with a ban to minors because the public needs a certain maturity in order to assess this film, which is high-violence, as a denunciation of the Salafism world. But I have not censored it, because I do not want to prevent an author from producing a documentary,” Pellerin said.

 
The film — produced by French director Francois Margolin and Mauritanian journalist Ould Lemine Salem — was filmed in Mali, Iraq, Algeria, Tunisia and Mauritania between 2012 and 2015.

 
The documentary trailer shows leaders and members of radical Islamist groups speaking about applying Sharia law in areas under their control. It contains executions and hand amputation scenes that reportedly have been cut in a new version of the movie.

 
The film director Margolin told French radio RMC on Wednesday: “Our documentary disturbs because it crystallizes years of denial.” He had requested that minors not be barred from seeing the movie.

Author Hajer M’tırı

[Photo: France Culture Minister Fleur Pellerin. Photographer: Selbymay/Creative-Commons]