A French court has given Algeria defender Youcef Atal an eight-month suspended sentence for promoting religious hatred on social media with a post related to the Israel-Gaza conflict.
The criminal court in Nice has decided that Atal is obligated to pay a fine of €45,000 (£38,886) for sharing an antisemitic video on his Instagram account.
His club side, Nice, has suspended the 27-year-old “until further notice.”
Despite this, he has been chosen to be part of the Algeria squad for the Africa Cup of Nations.
Additionally, Atal will bear the cost of publishing the details of his conviction in the regional daily Nice-Matin and the national newspaper Le Monde.
Having deleted the post and apologised the day after making the original post, Atal apologised again during the court hearings and said he did not watch the full 35-second video and had wanted to send “a message of peace”.
However, that argument did not convince the prosecutors.
“Sharing a video means being party to its message and lending it visibility,” prosecutor Meggi Choutia told the court.
“There is no talk of peace at any moment in these 35 seconds.”
Having participated in three matches for Algeria since the aforementioned post, Atal is poised to take part in the Cup of Nations, commencing on January 13 in Ivory Coast.