France Targets Imams to Rein in Terrorism

[AP / ELAINE GANLEY, Associated Press Writer]

PARIS (AP) -- They have lived largely unnoticed for years,
isolated from the French mainstream by language and religion. Now
these imams, accused of preaching a radical brand of Islam, are
being tracked, investigated and in some cases expelled.
Taking the lead in a budding get-tough trend among some
European governments, France has expelled at least two imams, or
prayer leaders, since January, calling them a public danger. It is
threatening to expel two more, and a fifth is under arrest.
Critics say the aggressive policy could do more harm than
good, but France isn't alone. Italy deported an imam from Senegal in
November, deeming him a "danger to state security." He had warned
that Italian soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan risked attack. Days
later 19 Italians in Iraq were killed.
Britain jailed an imam from Jamaica for nine years in March
2003 for urging followers to kill Hindus, Jews and Americans. It is
now trying to deport another high-profile cleric, Abu Hamza
al-Masri, accusing him of advising and supporting terrorist groups,
including al-Qaida.
Spain, where 191 people died in the March 11 railroad
bombings, is considering a law empowering authorities to monitor
imams.
But France has set a policy of actively going after imams
whose discourse veers into a defense of violence or espouses values
counter to democracy or human rights.
Radical imams "are a natural bridge toward violence, that
is, toward terrorism," said Stephane Berthomet, a former
anti-terrorism investigator with the Interior Ministry. They also
are a "social danger," he said, because "they reject the French
system."
But it's not so simple. European civil rights laws don't
always lend themselves to swift expulsion, as Britain has learned in
dealing with al-Masri. It revoked his citizenship five months ago,
calling him a threat to the country's interests, but he appealed to
a special immigration tribunal and a ruling is likely to take
months.
Abdelkader Bouziane, one of two imams expelled from France
last month, quickly won a court ruling allowing him to return.
The Algerian, who has 16 children from two wives, advocated
violence in his sermons, the Interior Ministry said. French media
had quoted him as saying he favors wife-beating and stoning of
women.
On Saturday, police detained a Turkish imam at a Paris
mosque who allegedly headed an extremist movement that advocates
violence and terrorism. Midhat Guler, 45, immediately applied for
political asylum.
Guler has lived in France for 28 years and has five
children. He has directed the mosque since 1984, his son,
Abdurrahman Guler, told French television.
Lhaj Thami Breze, president of the powerful Union of Islamic
Organizations of France, which is considered close to Egypt's Muslim
Brotherhood, said the expulsions are excessive and the fanfare is
unwise.
"This feeds the fear in the Muslim community that it, once
again, is being singled out," Breze said in a telephone interview.
"It gives the impression that France is persecuting Muslims."
On the other hand, the rector of the Paris Mosque approved.
"We have to work hand in hand ... so that the function of
the imam, the status of the imam in France, is above any suspicion,"
Dalil Boubakeur said Monday.
France, whose Muslim community of 5 million is western
Europe's largest, wants an "Islam of France" to emerge that reflects
the country's values.
The concern has been heightened by a growing realization
that a generation of poor, marginalized Muslim youths is growing up
alienated from French mainstream society and schooling. These youths
are widely blamed for a wave of anti-Semitic violence in France.
The imams themselves reflect the problem of alienation. Most
of the 1,500 in France come from abroad and fewer than half speak
French.
The isolation of Muslim youths makes them particularly
vulnerable to radical preachings, said Berthomet, the former
anti-terrorism officer.
"These radicals penetrate some suburbs more easily than
social workers or police," he said.