MONTREAL, Canada – A Canadian feminist who criticized the Muslim School of Montreal’s teachings as “extremely violent” and “misogynistic” is now on trial in a slander lawsuit brought by school officials.

The private Muslim school sued Ukrainian born Djemila Benhabib over an interview the outspoken critic of Islamic fundamentalism gave to 98.5 FM radio host Benoit Dutrizac in 2012 that criticized the school’s website.

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According to the National Post:

Koranic verses being taught to children were “extremely violent” and “misogynistic,” she told Dutrizac in a recording played in the court. She said the school offers students “an indoctrination worthy of a military camp in Afghanistan or Pakistan.” The school, she said, “is creating fundamentalist activists who in a few years will be demanding accommodations and all sorts of bizarre things … We are an extremely long way from citizenship, from the values that belong to our society.”

Benhabib, who wrote a book in 2009 about her experience as a secular feminist fighting against fundamentalism, also denounced as “sexual apartheid” the school’s policy of imposing the Islamic headscarf as part of girls’ uniforms beginning in fifth grade. The school’s model, she said, is another society “where women walk behind men with their heads down, where children are obliged to recite Qur’anic verses and where men are probably going to commit honour crimes against their sisters.”

Benhabib followed up with a second interview with 98.5 FM after Dutrizac was targeted by Muslims in retaliation for the first interview. Benhabib said in round two that the Muslim school is “spreading a message of hatred,” according to the news site.

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The Muslim School of Montreal, which is officially called The Ecoles Musulmanes de Montreal, sued Benhabib for $95,000 alleging she “greatly tarnished” the school’s reputation, Radio Canada International reports.

RCI describes Benhabib as “an award-winning author and avowed secularist.”

“I was devastated, appalled, horrified, insulted and worried” about Benhabib’s comments, Muslim School of Montreal President Ahmed Khebir told the court during testimony Monday. “How is it possible that someone who had never set foot inside our school could make such damaging and insulting statements?”

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Khebir contends students who heard Benhabib’s remarks on the radio fretted over how it might impact their chance at college and removed the school from their resumes. He also blamed Benhabib for a recent drop in enrollment and increased security costs to protect against “some crazy person” who might be provoked by the radio broadcasts.

The case has drawn interest from the French feminist group Regards de femmes, which sent two representatives to monitor the court trial.

“We are here because the words of Djemila Benhabib are very important for the women and young girls of the entire world,” Regards president Michele Vianes said. “If we disallow criticism on such a fundamental question to be expressed, is there really freedom of expression?”

Activist Louise Mailloux is helping to raise money for Benhabib’s legal defense because she believes the case is about silencing critics.

“A feminist activist for secularism is being brought before the courts,” she said. “It’s as if they were trying to make it an offence to have an opinion.”