Pantin Mosque Reopens After 6-Month Closure Following Samuel Paty Murder

The decision to reopen the Pantin mosque this Friday has been confirmed by the prefect. Six months that the 1300 faithful who come to pray there, keep their patience. It was closed because of the relay on its Facebook page, of the video of a parent of a student, who had been at the origin of the mechanism leading to the assassination of Samuel Paty, and the presence of an imam trained in Yemen and accused by the authorities of being "involved in the Islamist movement".

On October 16, 2020, an 18-year-old Chechen refugee had beheaded Samuel Paty, a 47-year-old father, accusing him of having shown caricatures of the Prophet Mohammad to his students. A violent crime against which the French authorities have taken quick decisions. The Ministry of the Interior had promised "a war against the enemies of the Republic" and launched a series of operations against the Islamist movement.

In the line of sight, the imam of the Pantin mosque, trained in Yemen and suspected of being "involved" in this Islamist movement. The imam had resigned as early as October 26 since the condition set by the Minister of the Interior and the prefect of Seine-Saint-Denis, for the mosque to become active again before Ramadan is the departure of its rector, M’hammed Henniche.