Breze said imams should refrain from using a hot-tempered religious discourse

By Hadi Yahmid, IOL Correspondent

PARIS, May 4 (IslamOnline.net) – A French court has placed an imam under house arrest to be deported later to his native Turkey on suspicion of belonging to an extremist group, a measure that trigger an outcry from French civil rights groups.

Imam Midhet Guler, who was arrested Saturday, May 1, applied for political asylum but his request was further rejected by the Interior Ministry.

He is accused of joining a Turkish group called "Kablanci," which seeks to establish an Islamic caliphate in Turkey by force.

Haidar Dimrik, the head of the Turkish Muslim Committee in France, told IslamOnline.net that imams should respect the French law, which prohibits fiery sermons inciting violence in mosques like the one led by Guler.

Thami Breze, the leader of the Union of French Islamic Organizations (UOIF), said the Muslim body does not accept that imams use a hot-tempered religious discourse, like supplication to God to destroy the United States and annihilate the Jews.

But Breze rejects what he called a frenzied "media propaganda" calling for the expulsion of imams.

"This propaganda leaves the impression that imams are foreigners and intimidates the French people against them," he told IOL.

"Litigation not expulsion is the one and only way to address the burning issue of imams."

IOL learnt that Guler’s mosque has been monitored by French police, who also scrutinize some 15 mosques affiliated to the hard-line Turkish group.

Condemned

The French Coalition against Islamophobia voiced Tuesday, May 4, concern over what it called the phenomenon of crackdown on imams in France since last year.

In a statement, it said the expulsion decisions were not usually built on "credible information", let alone they disunite families.

The blank papers of the French intelligence have become the only evidence against imams in France, it warned, denouncing the insults traded to Muslims in the name of fighting terrorism.

The group also preferred resorting to litigation instead of expulsion in the case of terror suspects.

Michel Tubiana, head of France's Human Rights League, also condemned the policy of kicking out imams, saying they should stand trial instead of being deported.

Last month, a ruling by a French court quashed a government decision to deport an Algerian imam for statements seen by the secular country as violence-inciting.

An IOL poll showed that expelling imams from European countries would further alienate Muslims in the continent.

Appointment of Imams

In a related development, the leaders of the French Council of the Muslim Faith (CFCM) regional councils wrapped up a meeting Saturday, rejecting a possible government role in appointing imams.

Breze said he is against qualifying and appointing imams by the state, because it runs counter to the principles of the secularism, which stipulates that the state should stay neutral.

He called for establishing an institute for imams, which will be charged with properly preparing imams with a focus on the French and Arabic languages.

French Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin said Monday that the current wave of expelling "radical" imams was not targeting the sizable Muslim community in the country.

"We are committed to the French Republic allowing the freedom of different religions and we want religions which respect tolerance to feel comfortable in France," he said after a meeting with CFCM President Dalil Boubakeur.

French Interior Minister Dominique de Villepin pledged Saturday to press ahead with the deportation of what he termed as "radical Muslim clerics".

According to the interior ministry 10% of France's 1,000-1,500 imams are citizens, less than half speak French, said British daily The Guardian.