Last Wednesday, the Bouches-du-Rh\u00f4ne police prefect demanded that the Bleuets mosque in Marseilles part company with Imam Ismail, on pain of closure of the place of worship.<\/p>\n\n
Yesterday, Imam Ismail and his lawyers held a press conference to make public their counter-proposal: the imam would temporarily withdraw from the life of the mosque to look after his family and undergo training in secularism, and the mosque would remain open.<\/p>\n\n
Today, Ma\u00eetre Guez-Guez, one of the imam’s lawyers, announced on X that this proposal had been accepted by Police Prefect Pierre-\u00c9douard Colliex.<\/p>\n\n
However, the imam’s lawyers, Ma\u00eetres Chekat and Guez-Guez, denounce what they call an “unequal arm wrestling match”, questioning “the competence of the Prefecture of Police to say what is good Islam and what is bad Islam”.<\/p>\n\n
Imam Ismail is also being prosecuted for “apologie du terrorisme”, and will appear before the criminal court on October 3.<\/p>\n\n
This conclusion to the Bleuets mosque affair comes against a backdrop of public silence from Muslim institutions, none of which have given their official support.<\/p>\n\n