French Philosopher Roger Garaudy Dies

Controversial French philosopher Roger Garaudy has died at the age of 98.

An ex-member of the communist party, he converted to Islam in the 1980s. His 1996 book The Founding Myths of Israeli Politics denied that the killing of Jews by the Nazis constituted genocide.
He was given a suspended jail sentence for Holocaust denial in 1998.

During the war Garaudy joined the French Resistance and later wrote more than 50 books – mainly on political philosophy and Marxism.

He was expelled from the French Communist Party in 1970 after criticising the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia.

Born into a Catholic family, he initially converted to Protestantism before rejoining the Catholic Church and eventually embracing Islam.

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