Islamophobia in France: Basketball club manager fired for his Muslim faith

A political figure close to French President Emmanuel Macron has instructed the dismissal of a basketball team manager because of his conversion to Islam.

A new investigation by the French newspaper, Liberation, revealed a new story of the spread of Islamophobia in French society, this time in the field of sports, where believing in Islam was sufficient reason for a former basketball player to be fired from the position of director of a French club, at the behest of a political figure close to Macron, the former Minister of Education and Mayor of Pau-François Bayrou.

The former American basketball player, Taqwa Pinero, who served as the director of the French “Ilan Béarnier” team for only three months, was fired because of his Islamic religion, according to the investigation.

The French newspaper attributed the reason for the dismissal to the uproar created by the local media in the Atlantic Pyrenees (southwest) over a publication of the player in which he spoke of his belief in God.

In his publication, Pinero recounted an injury at the end of 2019, which suspended his playing career.

He said, “My career is over, and I only had $15 in my bank account, but I had a big dream,” before concluding it with a sentence, “I live now because I am proof of what God can do with those who strongly believe in Him.”