TerrorismFrench Mosque Closed as Part of a Crackdown on Islamist Extremists

Published 19 October 2020

The French minister of the interior, Gérald Darmanin, announced the closure of the Pantin mosque in Seine-Saint-Denis. Darmanin said the closure was a response to the beheading Friday of Samuel Paty, a history and geography professor, near the college of Conflans-saint-Honorine where he was a teacher. Paty, teaching a course on the freedom of expression, showed caricatures of the Prophet Mohammed in class. A Muslin student complained to his parents, and the parents persuaded a preacher to issue a “fatwa” calling for the killing of Paty.

The French minister of the interior, Gérald Darmanin, announced the closure of the Pantin mosque in Seine-Saint-Denis. Darmanin said the closure was a response to the beheading Friday of Samuel Paty, a history and geography professor, near the college of Conflans-saint-Honorine where he was a teacher.

The attacker, Abdullakh Anzorov, was killed by police.

“In the aftermath of this despicable attack, we will draw all the consequences,” said Darmanin.. “I asked the prefect of Seine-Saint-Denis to close the Pantin mosque since its leader announced that the professor should be intimidated, and by relaying the college’s address. The prefect signs his ban this evening. If the courts approve, it will be a six-month ban, he added.

The leader of the mosque had posted on his Facebook page a video denouncing Paty for teaching a course on the caricatures of Muhammad.

The interior minister also noted that this imam had his children “educated” in an underground school closed at the beginning of October in Bobigny: “Children from 2 to 6 years old wore the hijab, without playground, without window, without teacher.” About fifteen establishments, including underground schools, places of worship, sports halls, and restaurants, have been closed in Seine-Saint-Denis since 2018, the prefect of the department announced in February.

The interior minister also said that 34 operations against Islamist extremists had been launched on Monday. “The president asked us yesterday to speed up a number of operations still under the judge’s control. I thank the justice, the magistrates, who accompanied the police. […] These operations aim to ensure that the surprise changes sides. The purpose of these operations is to intimidate those who try to intimidate us” added Darmanin. He also specified that since Emmanuel Macron came to power in 2017, 356 places establishments where young Muslims were being radicalized have been closed, and that “411 illegal aliens on Islamist files have been expelled by my predecessors for three years.”

Darmanin had already indicated earlier in the day that the government was now focusing on 51 associations close to the Islamist movement. Several of them could be dissolved.

Fifteen people, including four college students, are also in custody in connection with the assassination of Paty. They are being questioned by counterterrorism investigators who seek to establish whether the killer, an 18-year-old Chechen Russian, had any collaborators. According to Darmanin, Samuel Paty was targeted by a “fatwa” launched by a Muslim student’s parent and a preacher - both in custody - for showing caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad during a course on the freedom of expression.