Mosque makes French legal history in its fight against religious extremism

The mosque successfully appealed to France's law separating church and state to win protection against a menacing Salafist preacher

The small Oullins mosque on the edge of Lyon won an unusual court battle against an ultra-conservative Salafist member of the congregation regarded as disruptive and, in an apparent first for Muslims, used France's 1905 law guaranteeing secularism to argu (AP)

A mosque near Lyon made legal history by successfully appealing to France’s law separating church and state to win protection from religious extremism in the form of a disruptive Salafist preacher.

A court convicted Faouzi Saidi, 51, of breaking France’s century-old “secularity” law by trying to disrupt services at the mosque at Oullins in the Lyon suburbs. He was fined €1,000 with another €500 fine suspended.

The 1905 law, which creates a barrier between the French state and all forms of religion, has sometimes been accused of feeding Islamophobia. It has provided justification for recent laws that forbid full-face veils on French streets and ban Islamic headscarves and other religious symbols in French state schools.

However, two lesser-known clauses of the same law guarantee the right of worship in France.

For the first time in French legal history, a mosque used those clauses in February to seek protection from Saidi, a follower of the radical Salafist version of Islam, who was accused of holding unauthorised prayer meetings, placing his hands over his ears during official services and organising a menacing bodyguard of young men.

In a delayed ruling, the Lyons court found him guilty.

During the trial in February, Abdelkader Bendidi, president of the Rhône-Alpes Muslim council said the case was an important step towards protecting moderate Islam from the growing influence of Salafism and other radical movements.

After the jihadist attacks in Paris in January, he said, “We must sound an alarm bell. Mosques have an important role to play in the fight against extremism. The public authorities must help us.”

Mr Saidi denied any intention to disrupt the Oullins mosque – which is one of the oldest in France.

He told the Associated Press that his only crime was to “have a big mouth”. “I don’t understand why I’ve been convicted,” he said. “I practice religion as it is prescribed.”

The religion-protecting clauses of the 1905 law were last used 25 years ago when a group of drunks were successfully prosecuted for disrupting a Catholic Christmas mass.