Beauvais Mosque Shut Down Over Alleged Extremist Sermons

According to the press release from the prefecture of Oise, the mosque was already in the sights of the Ministry of the Interior, which had announced on December 14 that it had "initiated" the administrative closure procedure of this mosque.

To justify this decision, the prefecture relies on "the sermons delivered by a regular imam of the Great Mosque who glorify jihad as a duty, by glorifying the fighters he describes as heroes, in the service of the protection of the Muslim religion which would be, according to him, threatened by Western societies."

Due to the radical nature of the sermons delivered there. "We have initiated the closure of the mosque of Beauvais, (which is) totally unacceptable, which fights Christians, homosexuals and Jews," the Interior Minister had declared.

According to the ministry, the preacher in question, presented as an occasional speaker but who, in reality, acts as a designated imam, would have made statements "glorifying jihad and fighters, whom he describes as heroes." He would also have defended "a rigorous practice of Islam" and "its superiority over the laws of the Republic."

In addition, his remarks "castigate" the "unbelievers and present Western societies as Islamophobic," the ministry detailed. They push "the faithful to break with the Republic" and "incite hatred of homosexuals, Jews and Christians."

It should be recalled that the Great Mosque of Beauvais welcomes around 400 worshippers and houses a school that provides Arabic language courses and academic support to around 180 children.