Amputees take part in a football match inspired by FIFA World Cup 2026 final Spain against Argentina on a pitch amid the rubble in Gaza City, Palestine on July 18, 2026 [File: Mohammed Saber/EPA]
French court orders Gaza photo to be put back into festival
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- A French court has ordered the Deauville Sports Images Festival to restore a photo depicting two Gaza football teams surrounded by destroyed buildings.
- The court ruled the mayor’s order to remove the Associated Press photo was neither “necessary” nor “proportionate.”
A French court has ordered a leading sports photography festival to put back on display a photo showing two Gaza football teams playing on a pitch surrounded by destroyed buildings.
The photograph, taken by Gaza photographer Jehad Alshrafi for the Associated Press, was quietly removed from the Deauville Sports Images Festival halfway through the exhibition.
The court suspended an order issued by the mayor of the Channel resort on August 20, ruling that removing the photograph was not “necessary” or “proportionate.”
The exhibition, which opened in June and focuses on the values of sport, is scheduled to continue until September 6.
A lawyer representing Deauville town hall, Marie-Therese Sur-Le Liboux, defended the removal in court, citing a risk of public disorder. She said local authorities had observed a “torrent of hatred” on social media, but did not provide examples.
Festival officials told the court that it would take six days to reprint the photograph and return it to the exhibition.
Agnes Tricoire, head of the OLC rights group that sought the court order, welcomed the ruling but warned that further action could follow.
She said it would be “scandalous” if the original photograph had been destroyed.
