PARIS, May 4, 2005 (IslamOnline.net) – The French Justice Ministry is seeking the help of representatives of the French Muslim minority to appoint a Muslim chaplain-general to cater for the religious needs of Muslims prisoners doing time in French jails.

Hassan Al-Alawi Al-Talibi was nominated by the French ministry to work as a chaplain for overseeing the religious teachings for the Muslim prisoners after receiving the approval from the French Council for Muslim Religion (CFCM) Tuesday, May 3.

The move came after French Justice Minister Dominique Perben forwarded an “emergency” request to the CFCM to appoint a Muslim chaplain to combat what he termed “Islamic” extremism in the French prisons.

Talibi, of a Moroccan origin, is a teacher of mathematics in the northern French city of Lil. He is married with seven sons.

Talibi, one of the most prominent Muslim chaplains in the European country, has worked for seven years as a preacher in a concentration camp in northern France.

The Muslim preacher will be tasked with easing measures to allow Muslim prisoners to practice their religious rituals, providing them with copies of the Noble Qur'an and mediating with the prison administration to solve problems facing them in practicing religious rituals.

The move comes only few months after the French Defense Ministry assigned Ayyat Hussein, a Muslim army colonel, to study the possibility of setting up a department for Muslim chaplains to meet the spiritual needs of Muslims serving in the republic’s army.

Ammar Al-Asfar, an official in charge of the CFCM's Muslim chaplains’ department, welcomed the Justice Ministry’s move to appoint a Muslim chaplain to address the religious needs of the Muslim prisoners.

“The French Muslims are pleased with efforts to appoint Muslim chaplains for Muslims in prisons, army, hospitals and elsewhere,” he told IslamOnline.net Wednesday, May 4.

He, however, expressed reservations at the way followed by the French Justice Ministry to pick up the Muslim chaplain.

“We were surprised with the ‘emergency’ request put forward by the French ministry and naming the Muslim chaplain in advance,” he said.

“The CFCM has been working on the issue of the Muslim chaplains for Muslim prisoners, who make up 70% of prisoners in the French jails,” he stressed.

Last year, a French study revealed that Muslims make up between 50-70% of prisoners in the French jails.

The French Justice Ministry has been keen to appoint a Muslim chaplain for Muslims prisoners in an effort to combat what it terms the “Salafi” religious stream in the French prisons, IOL learnt from sources at the CFCM.

Since the 9/11 attacks in the United States, the issue of naming Muslim chaplains for Muslim prisoners has been high on the agenda of the French government to deal with Muslim detainees suspected of links with “extremist groups”.

Over the past years, there was no organized effort to address the religious needs of the Muslim prisoners in French jails. Rather there were only individual initiatives by some Muslim scholars to visit jails to address problems and cater for the needs of Muslim prisoners.

There are 513 Christian chaplains working in the French jails to address the prisoners' religious needs.