Muslim Rights Group Challenges French Government’s Mosque Closures Under Anti-Terror Law

On Thursday, June 13, the "Action droits des musulmans" (ADM) association made public a highly critical assessment of the application of the Law Strengthening Internal Security and the Fight against Terrorism (SILT) in terms of the closure of places of worship, as part of the anti-terrorist policy.

Indeed, it appears that since the entry into force of this Law in October 2017, the State has closed seven mosques suspected of being places that promote jihadist radicalization, according to the ADM Association’s accounts, in the absence of official data. However, the Organization points out that "none of the mosques have been the subject of a judicial investigation related to terrorism." On the contrary, these seven closures are added to the twenty pronounced under the state of emergency, from November 2015 to October 2017.

Furthermore, Sihem Zine, Founder of the ADM Association, who had accompanied many people targeted by the application of the state of emergency, after the attacks in Bataclan and Saint-Denis, notes that in reality, none of the seven mosques have been able to reopen, while the SLIT Law provides that this "cannot exceed six months."

On the contrary, "they are under the effect of pressure, of premises withdrawn," laments Sihem Zine, who believes that it is rather a "security policy that confuses Muslims and terrorists" and which, on the pretext of "fighting terrorism, ends up criminalizing a type of religious practices and inflicting a "collective punishment" on a religious community.