Nadine Osman
Germany defender Antonio Rüdiger and the German football federation have on March 26 announced they are taking legal action against a disgraced former tabloid editor for suggesting the player´s Ramadan greeting was a show of support for terrorist group Islamic State.
Rüdiger, a practising Muslim, posted on Instagram a photo of himself in a white robe kneeling on a prayer mat while pointing upward with his right index finger.
“Ramadan Mubarak to all Muslims around the world. May the almighty accept our fasting and prayers. #AlwaysBelieve,” the Real Madrid player wrote.
Former Bild chief editor Julian Reichelt responded on X, formerly Twitter, with a series of posts accusing the player of “Islamism” and of showing the “ISIS-greeting of Islamists.”
Reichelt still enjoys a large following on social media despite being fired from Bild in 2021 amid allegations of bullying and abuse of female staff at the tabloid.
He has since set up his own online media start-up, where he also accused Rüdiger of showing “the Islamist greeting that the whole world has known since ISIS terrorists´ horror.”
The German football federation announced that it initiated legal proceedings against Reichelt, whom it accused of online hate speech.
Rüdiger´s management also made a complaint on behalf of the player. The complaint charged Reichelt with insult or slander, inflammatory insult, and sedition.
Germany´s Federal Ministry of the Interior said of Rüdiger´s gesture: “The so-called `tawhid´ finger is considered a symbol of the unity and uniqueness of God in Islam. The gesture is common among Muslims all over the world.”
The ministry said the gesture should not be classified as problematic.
“This applies regardless of the fact that Islamist groups appropriate this symbol and misuse it for their purposes,” the ministry said.
Reichelt issued a response on X where he doubled down on his remarks on Rudiger’s gesture.
He wrote: ‘This gesture has been completely co-opted by terrorists over the last two decades. It has undisputedly become the greeting of ISIS and Islamist murderers all over the world, of people who also murdered in Berlin and brought disaster and immeasurable suffering to the world.
‘Anyone who poses like this in public is consciously showing the greeting of fanatics and not an innocent, spiritual gesture. It is a normalization of a terrible ideology that has already taken over far too much space in this country.
‘Also and especially because it’s about a popular national player, you shouldn’t allow yourself to be intimidated. It is important to point out that this political ideology goes against everything that our values are.
‘The raised index finger of Islamism, with which terrorists around the world celebrate their murders, does not belong to Germany. I will never let anyone stop me from saying that.’
(Photo credit: TonioRudiger/Instagram.com)
