Marseille Imam and Son Linked to Drug Investigation After Violent Attack

Thrown from the window of the apartment of his ex-partner, in a building near the Saint-Charles train station, in the 1st arrondissement of the Phocaean city, the son of Imam Ismaïl (Smaïn Bendjilali) was found by a police patrol, lying on the ground in a worrying condition in the night from Monday to Tuesday. He escaped with serious injuries, including multiple fractures, particularly to the chest and legs. Taken to the hospital by the marine firefighters, the victim is doing better. "Today, the imam’s son is doing better, I mean his vital prognosis is no longer engaged," says a source close to the case to Le Parisien. Information confirmed by the Marseille public prosecutor’s office, which said the victim was out of danger.

Following the attack, the Marseille public prosecutor’s office opened an investigation for "attempted murder by an organized gang." For the time being, the motive for the attack is still unknown. But it would be an attack related to drug trafficking. During a search, the investigators found drugs and cash at the imam’s home where his injured son was residing, reports a source close to the case. It was the religious dignitary himself who would have called the police to report the presence of drugs in his basement, according to Europe1. After being taken into custody on Wednesday, he was released. The investigators would have seized more than a kilo of cannabis resin and 580 euros in cash, the radio specifies.

"The cannabis was in no way found in the mosque but at his home. It is upon learning of the attack on one of his sons that he went to see where this child was hiding things," stresses a source close to the case. And to insist: "If this whole story is bad for him (EDITOR’S NOTE: Imam Ismaïl), it has nothing to do with the request to close the mosque." According to La Provence, the investigation would have quickly ruled out any link with the case of the Bleuets mosque. It is since this summer that the services of the Ministry of the Interior have accused Smaïn Bendjilali of holding "a discourse inciting discrimination and hatred against women, in particular through sermons legitimizing marital rape or polygamy." Accusations that could lead to the closure of the Bleuets mosque, which welcomes 300 to 350 worshippers on Fridays.

The confirmation by the Bouches-du-Rhône prefecture of a closure order for the Bleuets mosque is expected between Saturday and Monday. "We will then appeal to the Marseille administrative court in summary proceedings," warns Rafik Chekkat, the imam’s lawyer. "But these two cases are totally separate," he adds.