While the Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin, announced in January that he had closed a mosque in Cannes (Alpes-Maritimes), in particular because of “anti-Semitic remarks”, the State finally decided that it would not be the case, we learn this Tuesday, March 15 from concordant sources.
“We are closing one of the mosques in Cannes because we blame it for anti-Semitic remarks, support for the CCIF (Collective against Islamophobia in France, editor’s note) and BarakaCity”, dissolved at the end of 2020, the minister said on January 12. on CNEWS.
This administrative closure procedure had been officially opened because of “hate remarks towards France” and remarks “inciting hatred towards homosexuals or transsexuals” made by the former rector on the Facebook page of the Al Madina Al Mounawara Mosquehad also detailed at the time the prefecture, also speaking of “explicit anti-Semitic hatred”.
But “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”, finally underlined the prefecture of Alpes-Maritimes.
The guarantees provided are “sufficient”, according to the prefecture
As part of the open contradictory procedure, the new rector of the mosque, Ahmed Guessoum, who replaced the previous imam, Mustapha Dali, who retired, had transmitted information to the prefecture.
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. The guarantees provided were deemed sufficient”, detailed the prefecture.
At the same time, on Monday, the Gironde prefecture announced the six-month closure of the Al Farouk mosque in Pessac, in the suburbs of Bordeaux, accused of promoting “radical Islam” and conveying “a Salafist ideology”.