The well-known French cartoonist Maurice Sinet has been acquitted of spreading anti-Semitism. A court in Lyon ruled that the cartoonist, known as Siné, was innocent of "inciting racial hatred" in an article which said that Jean Sarkozy, son of the French president, "would go far in life" for converting to Judaism and marrying a Jewish heiress. Judge Fernand Schirr said the decision upheld "freedom of expression on religious sentiments," and even if an opinion was "shocking, it does not necessarily incite hatred."
Siné was fired in July 2008 when the cartoonist refused to apologize for writing an article what appeared to link Jean Sarkozy's supposed thirst for power with Judaism. The International League Against Racism and Anti-Semitism pressed charges against the 80-year-old cartoonist. On French television in November, Philippe Val, editor of the satirical weekly 'Charlie Hebdo', and the individual responsible for firing Siné, agreed the controversial comments were "ambiguous." He insisted he would "never publish" content which implied that "Jews like money." Siné maintained he did not mean Judaism brought wealth and power, but that Jean Sarkozy's "political opportunism" encompassed converting to a religion in order to marry up.
Jean Sarkozy married Jewish heiress Jessica Sebaoun-Darty, but he has not converted to Judaism.
