France: the mosque of Pessac wins its case and can remain open
The hall of the mosque of Pessac in Gironde.
© google maps
Text by: RFI Follow
2 mins
In France, the highest administrative court gives reason to the mosque of Pessac, in the suburbs of Bordeaux, suspected by the authorities of spreading "a Salafist ideology".
The Council of State rejected the appeal of the Ministry of the Interior.
In March, the administrative court of Bordeaux had already ruled against the prefecture of Gironde which had ordered the closure of the mosque for six months.
The ministry therefore appealed.
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The Council of State considered that the prefect had taken a measure which seriously and illegally undermined the freedom of worship.
She denounced radical sermons, the invitation of people relaying extremist Islam and the publication of messages inciting hatred and violence within this
mosque
.
A file finally recognized as empty, for Maître Stéphane Guez, lawyer for the Rassemblement des Musulmans de Pessac association, who denounces political relentlessness: "
It is the first time that a mosque has actually won its case in the context of a decision of an administrative closure.
In this file, the particularity is that the entirety of the white note from the intelligence services which feeds the file to justify the decision to close is based on Facebook publications from the mosque.
»
But for this lawyer, there is absolutely nothing else, neither the imam's sermons nor works that would incite the conduct of terrorist acts.
He specifies that it is necessary to read these publications, in which there are messages of support for the Palestinian cause, or publications which will remind that Muslims have the right to claim to be buried in Muslim squares.
A decision that will set a precedent
It is these publications that the Ministry of the Interior will interpret as being a communitarian incitement.
“
These were criticisms of the reorganization of Islam in France, it is a reversal which makes it possible to mark steps on the sequence where we could see closures of mosques in succession.
Just for the principle, it was absolutely necessary to appeal to the Council of State, even if it meant going there without any additional argument
”, specifies Maître Stéphane Guez.
At the beginning of 2021, the
French authorities
had listed 90 supposedly
separatist
mosques out of more than 2,600. In total, 22 have been closed, but often for reasons of non-compliance with administrative standards.
Thirty are still in the sights of the government.
(with
AFP
)
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