Smaïn Bendjilali was taken into custody for condoning terrorism, almost two weeks after the administrative closure procedure of the Bleuets mosque was initiated by the police prefect. He will be tried on October 3.
The imam of the Bleuets mosque, accused of “legitimizing violence” and “discrimination” by the Bouches-du-Rhône police prefecture, was taken into custody on Tuesday, September 3 for condoning terrorism, AFP learned from the public prosecutor, confirming information from France Bleu Provence.
He emerged Tuesday evening with a summons to appear before the criminal court, prosecutor Nicolas Bessone told AFP. The imam of the Bleuets mosque in Marseille, threatened with administrative closure, will be tried on October 3 for “apology for terrorism” regarding publications related to the situation in the Gaza Strip.
Threat of administrative closure since August 20
This summons to appear in court has a more or less direct link with the procedure initiated by the police prefect of Bouches-du-Rhône, Pierre-Édouard Colliex, insofar as the public prosecutor took up this case following a report from the prefect, known as “article 40”, explained the prosecutor.
My client was summoned on Monday evening only for this police custody, these are very short deadlines, never seen before. For me the timing is eminently political. And with this legal procedure, the police prefect is trying to solidify his case with a view to closing the mosque,” reacted Me Rafik Chekkat, lawyer of the imam, questioned by the AFP.
The mosque has been under threat of administrative closure since August 20. According to the police prefect, the imam, Smaïn Bendjilali, “defends a fundamentalist vision” while making speeches inciting “hatred against women.”
The imam also gradually “politicized” his speech, notably by fighting against “state Islamophobia,” a police source added to BFMTV. The imam denies any incitement to violence or apology for terrorism and denounces “intimidation.”
A meeting with the police prefect
The Marseille imam’s defense had requested a meeting with the police prefect in order to begin “a real debate” between the association managing the mosque and the public authorities.
On Monday, the lawyers and officials of the mosque had met with representatives of the State. Accompanied by the president of the Departmental Council of the Muslim Faith, they proposed “corrective measures”, indicated on Monday Me Rafik Chekkat, one of the lawyers.
This includes removing certain online publications, “not because we consider them illegal but as a measure of appeasement,” he said.
The imam and his son had already been taken into custody on August 27 and 28 for another case, after the son was thrown from a building in the 1st arrondissement of Marseille.
