Tayeb Benabderrahmane allowed immediate appeal in PSG legal case | OneFootball

Tayeb Benabderrahmane has won a procedural boost in his dispute with PSG president Nasser al-Khelaïfi, after the Paris Court of Appeal cleared an immediate civil appeal.

According to L'Équipe, the 9 July order allows a challenge to a 3 February stay that paused the civil case pending a criminal outcome.

The case centres on a confidentiality pact he signed, barring disclosure of confidential documents potentially damaging to Al-Khelaïfi, with a €5 million penalty.

Before signing, the lobbyist spent six months in detention in Qatar from January 2020 on suspicion of spying for a foreign state. He says he was mistreated, held hostage and coerced into signing. He signed in July and left in November.

He and his wife filed a criminal complaint, and in 2023 judges opened an inquiry for kidnapping, unlawful confinement, torture and threats. Civilly, he seeks to void the pact, which was stayed on 3 February, a move sought by Al-Khelaïfi.

The appeal is listed for 12 November. His lawyer, Frédéric Belot, called the ruling rare and said it rebukes years of procedural stalling. He said his client wants a French judge to test a pact he says was signed in Doha under coercion and torture.

A UN body recognised in April 2025 that he had been arbitrarily detained in Qatar. In a separate case, he has been placed under formal investigation for influence peddling and corruption, suspected of supplying PSG staff with police data and of holding compromising material on Qatar and Al-Khelaïfi for possible blackmail.

Source: L'Équipe