Smaïn Bendjilali, the imam of the Bleuets mosque in Marseille, has announced his temporary withdrawal from the religious structure. The Interior Ministry has made the authorization to open the place of worship conditional on the controversial cleric leaving. The Bouches-du-Rhône police prefecture accuses him of making statements “legitimizing violence” for years. On Wednesday, September 4, the mosque was given an ultimatum to remove him within five days, or face closure.
According to ProvenceSmaïn Bendjilali therefore complied with the requests of the State representative. “In order to preserve the structure and especially because I am going through a family tragedy, I decided to temporarily withdraw, to take a breather.” One of the imam’s sons has just been sentenced to one year in prison, six months of which are suspended.
The imam also announced that he wanted to “return to his studies”. He reportedly registered on Monday at the Aix-Marseille university, with a view to obtaining a university diploma in “Secularism and Values of the Republic” in nine months. According to his lawyers, the police prefecture would make his return to the mosque as an imam conditional on obtaining this diploma.