African activist Kemi Seba, known for his virulent anti-Western stance, has been arrested in Paris, a source close to the case told AFP Tuesday.
The 42-year-old pan-Africanist militant, whose real name is Stellio Gilles Robert Capo Chichi, has been sentenced in France several times for incitement to racial hatred.
The reason for the arrest on Monday was not immediately known.
Seba, born in France to parents from Benin, is a radical black power activist who is regularly accused of anti-Semitism. He was stripped of his French nationality in July.
Last year, the activist was accused by lawmaker Thomas Gassilloud, then chairman of the National Assembly’s defence committee, of being a mouthpiece “for Russian propaganda” and serving “a foreign power that fuels anti-French sentiment”.
Seba has publicly praised Russian President Vladimir Putin, saying “he doesn’t have the blood of slavery and colonisation on his hands”.
Since the beginning of August, he has held a diplomatic passport issued by the junta in Niger.
Seba said on Facebook the passport had been issued “in view of the fight I have been waging for 25 years for Africa, at the risk of my life.”
Seba has also had brushes with the law in Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast and Guinea over perceived slights to their leaders.
Two groups that he founded including Tribu K were dissolved by the French justice ministry for inciting “racist and anti-Semitic” ideology.
