PARIS, May 13 (IslamOnline.net) - The French experts committee, supervised by the Interior Ministry, to train imams in the European country will also organize training programs for people interested to know about Islam, said a committee member.

"The main idea is to set up an institute that will not only train imams but also organize courses for journalists and judges to know more about Islam," Eric Geoffroy told IslamOnline.net.

"There are between five to six million French Muslims and France needs institutions to give the French people, both Christians and Muslims, an idea about Islam."

Geoffroy, also an expert in Islamic studies, Strasbourg University, further said that the institute's mission is to "present an open French Islam in harmony with the French environment."

Acknowledging there are 1300-1500 imams in France, he said they should be well trained to "present the French Islam."

He confirmed that during the second meeting of the committee on Tuesday, May 11, the representatives of the Paris Mosque and the Union of French Islamic Organizations (UOIF).

Geoffroy said "they might be afraid of the committee as they have their own projects about the issue [training imams]."

The UOIF has vocalized concerns vis-à-vis the state interference in the setting up of the imam training institute.

The body underlined that France's secularism bans the state from intervening in religious affairs.

It proposed, instead, forming an independent committee affiliated to the French Council of the Muslim Faith (CFCN).

On May 6, the Paris Mosque announced the formation of a committee to supervise the setting up of an imam training institute in tandem with the French federation of African and Comoran Muslim societies.

However, Geoffroy expressed opposition to CFCN tendency to set up institutes independent from the authorities.

"Muslims should not be left to handle the issue of imams on their own," he said, claiming interference from Algerian, Moroccan and Saudi parties affecting the independence of "French Islam."

French Foreign Minister Dominique De Villepin denied Wednesday, May 11, that the committee was an official body formed by the state, despite the supervision of his ministry on the appointment of its members.

An Iraqi imam with political refugee status who preached at a mosque outside Paris was arrested and placed under investigation for allegedly violating a house arrest order, court sources said Tuesday.

Yashar Ali was taken into custody on Monday in Argenteuil, northwest of the French capital.

His arrest came amid the center-right government's campaign to deport what it calls "radical imams".

Geoffroy criticized the campaign regretting that the CFCN has not been consulted in the recent arrests.

"We should keep in mind the political context of the expulsions, especially with the advent of European elections."

The French authorities suddenly discovered that there are radical imams, though the intelligence and security bodies knew that long ago, he remarked.

"They deliberately brought the issue to the fore now which raises many questions," Geoffroy said.