INTELLECTUALS are rallying around a philosophy teacher forced into hiding after he wrote an article describing the Prophet Muhammad as a ruthless warlord and mass murderer.

Robert Redeker, a writer who teaches at a lycée near Toulouse, has been under police protection, moving between secret addresses, since threats against him appeared on Islamist websites last week. His home address was published with calls to murder. “You will never feel secure on this earth. One billion, 300 million Muslims are ready to kill you,” one message said. One threat came from a contributor to al- Hesbah, an internet forum that is viewed as a channel for al-Qaeda. Despite the threats the Government has offered M Redeker, 52, only limited support.

More than 20 stars of the French intellectual world appealed yesterday to the Government to do more to help. They included the philosophers Bernard-Henri Lévy, Alain Finkielkraut and André Glucksmann. M Redeker, who is on the editorial board of Les Temps Modernes, a review founded by Jean-Paul Sartre, has said that he cannot afford to pay for his accommodation and other costs in hiding.

“I cannot work, I cannot come and go. I have to hide,” he said. “So . . . the Islamists have succeeded in punishing me on the territory of the Republic as if I were guilty of a crime of opinion.”

His supporters deplored what they said was cowardice in the face of Islamic extremism. “A handful of fanatics are brandishing supposed religious laws to throw into question in our country the most fundamental liberties,” they said.

M Redeker stirred anger with a strongly worded commentary in Le Figaro on September 19. In it he deplored the furore over Pope Benedict XVI’s references to the Prophet Muhammad. He called the Prophet “a merciless warlord, a looter, a mass murderer of Jews and a polygamist”. The Koran, he said, was a book of incredible violence.

The teacher and his supporters have been angered by the qualified backing from Gilles de Robien, the Education Minister. M de Robien voiced solidarity with the teacher but added that he should have been “careful, moderate and sensible in all circumstances”. Similarly Dominique de Villepin, the Prime Minister, said: “Everyone has the right to express his views freely, while respecting others, of course”.

On Europe 1 radio yesterday, M Lévy denounced the Education Minister for failing to support his teacher. “It is unacceptable. This must be condemned without reservations . . . When a man is on the ground, you don’t give him lessons. You help him to get up again,” he said.

Leaders of mainstream Muslim organisations have deplored the threats and appealed to believers not to play into the hands of provocateurs. Some Muslims have accused M Redeker of courting trouble for publicity. Tariq Ramadan, a leading university teacher, said: “The philosophy teacher is free to write what he likes in Le Figaro, but he must know what he wanted — he signed a stupidly provocative text.”

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