FRANCE has ordered a mosque to close following its imam’s radical nature of preaching, said regional authorities today.

The mosque in Beauvais – a town of 50,000 people some 100km north of Paris – will remain shut for six months, according to the Oise region prefecture.

It said the sermons there incite hatred and violence, and “defend jihad”.

Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin had two weeks ago said he has triggered the procedure to close the site as the imam there “is targeting Christians, Jews and homosexuals” in his sermons.

This, the minister said, is “unacceptable”.

Local authorities are legally bound to launch a 10-day period of information-gathering before taking action, but said today the mosque will now be shut within two days.

Local daily Courrier Picard had this month reported that the imam is a recently reverted Muslim.

It quoted the mosque’s lawyer as saying that the imam’s remarks have been “taken out of context”, and that the latter has been suspended from his duties following the prefecture’s letter.

The French government had earlier this year announced that it will step up checks on worship houses and associations suspected of spreading radical Islamic propaganda.

The crackdown comes after the murder of teacher Samuel Paty, who was targeted following an online campaign against him for having shown controversial cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad published by the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo during a civics class, in October last year.

The Interior Ministry said about 100 mosques and Muslim prayer halls out of more than 2,600 have been investigated over recent months due to suspicion that they are spreading “separatist” ideology.

It said six sites are being investigated with a view to closing them down on the basis of laws against extremism and Islamist separatism. – AFP, December 28, 2021.