French Mosques Allege Discriminatory Bank Account Closures, Seek Government Intervention

"For a few years now, certain institutions and members of the Muslim community in France have been victims of a Banking Apartheid," denounces in a press release relayed by Mizane.info Kamel Kabtane, president of the CMR. He will specify that dozens of mosques under construction (or extension) have had their bank accounts closed. Individuals who have financed the construction of Muslim places of worship have also suffered the same fate. This is the case of a believer named Messaoud whose Azzedine Gaci, rector of the Villeurbanne mosque and member of the CMR, had reported on his Facebook page on June 1.

"My son," Messaoud confides to him, "has a bank account at BNP. During the last Ramadan month, he made a donation by transfer of 10,000 € to a mosque, under construction in the Lyon metropolis. The mosque gave him a receipt. A month later, the bank decided to close his account, that of his father, his brother, his sister and his 96-year-old uncle, that is to say 5 bank accounts closed without any explanation."

Kamel Kabtane and Azzedine Gaci say they have informed the authorities of these discriminatory practices. But "nothing has been done," admits the president of the CMR. The rector of the Villeurbanne mosque said that the Minister of the Interior Gérald Darmanin had undertaken to take all necessary measures to prohibit these unjustified closures and restore the inalienable right to have a bank account for any French citizen, but he has not yet kept his promise. Faced with this worrying situation, Kamel Kabtane calls on President Emmanuel Macron "to put an end to this legal ignominy that deprives cultural institutions and French citizens of their fundamental rights."