Stunned. But no time to think about it: M’Hammed Henniche, responsible for the Great Mosque of Pantin (Seine-Saint-Denis), has only a few hours left to consult “the members of the worship association” and decide whether whether or not to appeal against the decision of the Ministry of the Interior to close the place of worship. This closure was announced Monday evening by Gérald Darmanin to the JT of TF 1, as part of the operations to fight against the Islamist movement, three days after the beheading of Samuel Paty, teacher of Conflans-Sainte-Honorine (Yvelines), by a terrorist.
VIDEO. Darmanin: “I asked to close the Pantin mosque”
M’hammed Henniche, who is also co-president of the Union of Muslim Associations of 93 (UAM 93), was given the notification of closure in person, by police officers, late Monday evening. It is applicable for six months.
First and foremost, he is accused of publishing, on the mosque’s Facebook page, a video of a father of Samuel Paty’s student calling for mobilization against the latter after his course on Charlie Weekly and Freedom cartoons. expression.
“I regret the publication of this video, which was immediately deleted”
Contacted this Monday, M’hammed Henniche hammers it: “I regret this publication which was immediately deleted after the atrocity suffered by this professor. Moreover, we had not published it in a process of criticism of cartoons or freedom of expression, but because this father of a student was moved that we could ask Muslim students to identify themselves. (Editor’s note: Samuel Paty would have suggested to his students not wishing to see the cartoons to leave the room) », Explained M’hammed Henniche.
He insists on another point: the other incriminated video, that of the radical pro-Islam activist Abdelhakim Sefrioui calling for mobilization against Samuel Paty, “has not been published” by his association. Instead of these videos, the Pantin mosque had, on Sunday, appealed to participate in the rally in tribute to the murdered teacher.
In the motivations of the public authorities to close the mosque of Pantin, it is also accused of welcoming a radical imam. Whose children, moreover, were “educated” in the clandestine school of Bobigny closed 15 days ago by prefectural decision.
