A new mosque is in the viewfinder of the Ministry of the Interior. Gérald Darmanin on Wednesday launched the procedure for the administrative closure of a mosque in Obernai (Bas-Rhin), accused of facilitating “the spread of a radical ideology”.
The imam of the mosque, who arrived in 2017, is “known to have engaged in radical proselytism in the Bas-Rhin for a dozen years”, assured Place Beauvau, confirming information from the Figaro. He shows “obvious hostility towards French society, multiplies provocative and hostile remarks to republican values and encourages the faithful in this radical vision”, adds the Ministry of the Interior.
The procedure, formally initiated by the prefect of Bas-Rhin, provides for a ten-day contradictory phase during which the association managing the mosque can submit its observations, before a possible closure, the duration of which cannot exceed six months.
“Salafist Islam”
In detail, the imam is accused, in the eyes of Beauvau, of “disseminating a Salafist Islam”, of “legitimising polygamy”, “of calling discrimination against Jews, homosexuals and women », to « legitimize the violence against the cartoonists » and to « rejoice in the attacks with conspiratorial remarks » attributing them to « the French State, Islamophobic ».
The Ministry of the Interior claims that, under its influence, several young people attending the mosque have become “radicalized” and that some have “left France to study in Koranic schools, in Egypt or in Yemen”.
The association managing this place of worship is also accused of “supporting” the “words” and “actions” of this imam, “which have never been the subject of any condemnation or moderation” of his go.
“Over the past two years, 23 separatist places of worship have been closed,” tweeted Gérald Darmanin. According to the Interior Ministry, France has 2,623 mosques and prayer rooms. Of this total, a hundred, suspected of separatism, were put under surveillance, which made it possible to remove doubts for around thirty of them. The rest, which represents about fifty places of Muslim worship, remains under the supervision of the ministry.