Gérald Darmanin had announced the “administrative closure” of a Cannes mosque in January even before the launch of contradictory proceedings. The latter, organized in recent weeks, has been pschitt. The Alpes-Maritimes prefecture announced on Tuesday that the Interior Ministry had finally given up banning the place of worship.
“The decision that was taken last week by the Ministry of the Interior is not to take an administrative closure measure, in the light of the elements provided by the new officials of the mosque”, underlined the prefecture.
Gérald Darmanin announced on January 12 that he had “closed” the Al Madina Al Mounawara mosque in downtown Cannes. “We accuse him of anti-Semitic remarks [et] support for the CCIF [Collectif contre l’islamophobie en France] and BarakaCity”, two “Islamist” associations, according to statements by the minister on CNews.
“The guarantees provided were deemed sufficient”
“It is wisdom and justice”, reacted the new rector of the mosque, Ahmed Guessoum, in office for eight months, who is waiting to be “officially informed of this decision”. He had denounced an “unfair and unjustified” initiative.
This administrative closure procedure had been officially opened due to “hate speech towards France” and remarks “inciting hatred towards homosexuals or transsexuals” made by the former rector on the mosque’s Facebook page, had then detailed the prefecture, also speaking of “explicit anti-Semitic hatred”.
The association managing the mosque “showed that it had completely cut ties with the previous rector and taken over the management of the mosque’s Facebook page. And the guarantees provided were deemed sufficient, ”said the prefecture.