France orders closure of mosque

0
104
France orders closure of mosque following "radical preaching" by imam

Dec 29, 2021: According to a report by AFP, France had ordered the closure of a mosque in the north of the country because of the “radical nature” of its imam’s preaching.

The town of Beuavais, a town of 50,000 people, about 100 kilometers north of Paris, will remain closed for six months, according to the prefecture of the Oise Mosque area. He said the sermons there incited hatred, violence and advocated jihad.

The move on the mosque, which has a congregation of about 400, comes two weeks after Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said he had triggered the procedure to close the site because the imam there “is targeting Christians, homosexuals and Jews” in his sermons. This, the minister said, was “unacceptable”.

Local authorities were legally bound to observe a 10-day period of information-gathering before taking action, but in this case the mosque would now be shut within two days.

As per AFP, the authorities said the imam, who the association claims had preached only occasionally and had now been suspended, was in fact a regular presence at the mosque, according to the official document citing the reasons for the closure.

It said the imam had called the jihad a “duty”, and had glorified its fighters as “heroes” who protected Islam against Western influence.

The French government announced earlier this year that it would step up investigations into places of worship and associations suspected of spreading radical propaganda.

The Interior Ministry said earlier this month that about 100 of France’s more than 2,600 mosques and Muslim places of worship had been searched in recent months on suspicion of spreading “separatist” ideology. It said six sites were being investigated with the aim of closing them down under French law against extremism and “Islamic separatism”.

Stay tuned to BaaghiTV for latest news and Updates!

European countries report record high COVID-19 cases

 

 

Leave a reply