Last March, Nizar Touihri had already attracted the attention of the media, notably LyonMag, by revealing dysfunctions within the Métropole de Lyon. The official had reported practices that he considered illegal, supporting his accusations with a bailiff's report.
His revelations had highlighted several abuses, which had earned him to be perceived as a “black beast” by his colleagues and managers.
“The slightest action I make, boom, administrative investigation”he declares. According to him, these repeated investigations would only be a way for management to make him pay for his audacity.
Nizar Touihri, technical agent at the Métropole de Lyon, was sanctioned on November 4, with 6 months of temporary exclusion from functions, 2 of which were suspended (i.e. 4 months firm).
Nizar Touhiri believes he was only punished for denouncing what he considers to be Islamophobic acts.
This new sanction follows facts dating back to 2013. In fact, more than 10 years ago, the technical agent explains that a manager from the Metropolis used a “listing” dsupposedly Muslim employees to ask them not to wish “Happy Ramadan” in emails exchanged at the Metropolis.
“One day I received 'Happy Ramadan' on my professional email. I don't know this person, so I didn't respond. Behind, Lise Fournot-Bogey (deputy HR director, editor's note) takes the entire list to which this no one had contacted us and she sent us all an email: 'You have a duty to be neutral, etc.' I reply: 'excuse me ma'am, I find myself in a listing, but I have nothing to do with it, you should settle this with the person who sent the email, because I don't understand why I am in this list''“, he explains. “It was the person who blamed me who had made this listing with all the names of people who belong or are supposed to belong to the Muslim religion, to tell them to avoid wishing via professional group emails 'good Ramadan'”.
If the latter fully understands the duty of neutrality, he then took the liberty of sending proof, in particular emails with which “management wishes a Merry Christmas every year without reaction, while a simple good Ramadan brings disapproval. I sent him all the emails, and since then no response.”
Nizar Touihri thus denounced these facts to Anne Jestin, the general director of services, whom he informed of what he considers to be an act of discrimination.
It was finally in September 2024, after relaunching the question, that Nizar Touihri received a summons to appear before the disciplinary council. “It was following my email dated September 4, 2024 to ask about the status of my denunciation concerning Islamophobia that I received a month later a summons informing me that I was being brought before the disciplinary council to be sanctioned.
The punishment is largely based on his failure to respect hierarchical circuits. In November 2023, the agent sent an email to several managers, including the director of human resources and the chief of staff, despite the warnings already received previously for having overstepped his direct superior. The summons also mentions a threat that Nizar Touhiri allegedly made during a telephone conversation. The latter assures that he has never threatened anyone.
The Metropolis agent sees this sanction as a form of repression linked to his denunciations. “The reasons for the sanction are bogus, but I had to be punished for my temerity.” He also criticizes the disciplinary procedure, which he considers biased. “The magistrate of the disciplinary council spoke informally to the union delegates who were there to crush me”, he says.
For now, Nizar Touihri finds himself without salary for four months, a situation which further increases his feeling of injustice.
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