France shuts Paris-area mosque over imams’ calls for jihad
The Chanteloup mosque has been ordered closed for six months over allegations of radical preaching.
French authorities have shut down the Chanteloup mosque in a Paris suburb over radical sermons delivered by its imams. Officials in the Seine-Saint-Denis prefecture suspended the Muslim place of worship for six months over calls for violence, glorification of martyrdom and incitement to hatred, EWTN News reports.
Officials based the temporary closure on an October 2017 law allowing prefects to shut down places of worship where preachers incite hatred or promote terrorist activity.
According to the prefect, the mosque’s permanent imams and visiting lecturers promoted a radical Islamist ideology echoing the rhetoric of terrorist organizations. A video also circulated on social media showing one of the mosque’s speakers calling for children over the age of 11 to be beaten if they refused to pray.
The religious community’s leadership challenged the authorities’ order in the administrative court in Montreuil. Rafik Chekkat, a lawyer representing the association that runs the mosque, filed an urgent appeal, calling the prefecture’s allegations inaccurate and unfounded.
“The prefect of Seine-Saint-Denis faults an imam for having cited the Surah Al-Baqara at the Chanteloup mosque in Aulnay-sous-Bois, in order to justify its administrative closure,” Chekkat said. “If the order is upheld by the courts, the Quran itself becomes grounds for closure.”
The lawyer said the mosque’s leadership had already suspended two imams who accounted for around 90 percent of the complaints. The Muslim community is also challenging the freezing of its bank accounts and the possible dissolution of the association that manages the mosque.
A court hearing was held on August 4, but the mosque continues to operate pending a final ruling.
This is the second time the Chanteloup mosque has faced closure. In 2019, the prefecture suspended its activities over failure to meet public safety requirements.
Since 2017, seven places of worship in France have been closed under the same procedure.
As the UOJ reported, calls have also been made in Sweden to close mosques promoting Islamist propaganda.
