Rachid Nekkaz

Rachid Nekkaz (Arabic: رشيد نكاز‎, Rashīd Nakkāz); born 9 January 1972, is an Algerian businessman and political activist.[1]

Rachid Nekkaz
Rachid Nekkaz in 2014
Born9 January 1972
Villeneuve-Saint-Georges, France
NationalityAlgerian
Alma materUniversity of Paris
OccupationBusinessman, political activist

Early life

Rachid Nekkaz was born on 9 January 1972 in Villeneuve-Saint-Georges, France. His parents were Algerian immigrants. He graduated from the University of Paris, where he received a bachelor of arts degree in the history of philosophy.

Career

Nekkaz founded an Internet startup, which nobody knew about. He subsequently diversified into real estate.

Nekkaz first came into the public eye as a potential candidate for the 2007 French presidential election. He caught media attention by purchasing the sponsorship of André Garrec, Mayor of Noron-la-Poterie, who had offered his support for auction, and tearing it up in front of the cameras.[2] However, he failed to secure the 500 endorsements required.[3] In the legislative elections of the same year, he founded his own party, standing in the 7th district of Seine-Saint-Denis and receiving only 156 votes, just over 0.5% of the ballot. He subsequently stood unsuccessfully in the 2008 municipal elections, promising €300 to every voter if elected.

In 2010, Nekkaz founded the organisation "Touche pas à ma constitution" (English: "Don’t touch my constitution", a play on the slogan of the NGO SOS Racisme: Touche pas à mon pote), which pledged to pay the fine of any women convicted of wearing the burqa in public. He announced that he was committing 2 million euro to this campaign.[4] He travelled to Brussels in August 2011 to pay the fines of two women convicted for the same offence.[5]

In October 2013, Nekkaz renounced his French citizenship in order to nominate himself for the 2014 Algerian presidential election. By birth he previously held dual citizenship, but Algerian law requires the president to hold only Algerian citizenship.[6][7][8][9]

In August he travelled to Denmark to pay the fines of women who had breached the laws on face-covering clothing. In response, political parties Danish People's Party and Venstre proposed to change the law from a simply a fine to also include 7 days in jail for repeat offenders.[10] In September 2018 he appeared outside the parliament of Denmark to reimburse the money to any individuals who had been fined under Denmark's burka ban. He was dressed with an Algerian and a Danish flag around his neck and held a picture showing Danish politician Lars Løkke Rasmussen and mujahideen in his hand. At the scene media and police were present, but nobody showed up to have the money reimbursed during the hour he held his political speech. In his speech he stated that Lars Løkke Rasmussen had financed terrorists. When he tried to enter the stairs to Christiansborg, he was removed by police. While he was moved by police he screamed out "Your prime minister is a terrorist".[11]

References
  1. "French businessman fined over face-veil stunt in Austria". DailySabah. Archived from the original on 2018-01-05. Retrieved 2018-01-04.
  2. "I'll pay burka ban fines, says French businessman". Radio France Internationale. 2010-08-11. Archived from the original on 2012-01-08. Retrieved 2011-08-19.
  3. "2007 Election special" (PDF). European Race Bulletin. 2007. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-03-24. Retrieved 2011-08-19.
  4. "French police detain veil ban protesters". The Guardian. 2011-04-11. Archived from the original on 2014-08-08. Retrieved 2011-08-19.
  5. "Muslim face veil fine in Belgium paid off by French businessman". The Daily Telegraph. 2011-08-17. Archived from the original on 2011-08-19. Retrieved 2011-08-19.
  6. Khettab, Djamila Ould (26 October 2013). "Le candidat à la présidentielle algérienne Rachid Nekkaz n'est plus français". Algérie Focus (in French). Archived from the original on 2014-02-01. Retrieved 2014-01-21.
  7. "Qui est Rachid Nekkaz ?". nekkazpresident.com. Archived from the original on 2014-01-22. Retrieved 2014-01-21.
  8. "French-Algerian businessman makes unlikely presidential bid". Al Arabiya. 6 December 2013. Archived from the original on 2014-02-01. Retrieved 2014-01-21.
  9. Randall, Colin (6 September 2013). "'Zorro of the niqab' renounces French nationality for Algerian presidential bid". The National. Archived from the original on 2013-12-18. Retrieved 2014-01-21.
  10. "Rigmand betaler burkabøder: Venstre og DF overvejer at indføre fængselsstraf". DR (in Danish). Archived from the original on 2018-11-10. Retrieved 2018-08-11.
  11. "Rigmand betalte ingen niqab-bøder foran Folketinget". www.b.dk (in Danish). 2018-09-11. Archived from the original on 2018-09-13. Retrieved 2018-09-13.
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