France: Radical Muslim Sentenced for Threatening to Kill Moderate Imam

A 38-year-old radical Muslim man was handed a weak six-month suspended sentence by a French court this week for threatening to kill a local imam.

The 38-year-old, who is also on the French anti-terrorism watchlist known as the S-File, got into an argument with the imam in the commune of Ussel at the Salem Association, which operates the local mosque.

Following the argument between the two men, the radical is said to have threatened the imam, saying: “I will take care of you,” French broadcaster France Info reports.

According to the broadcaster, the Muslim was put on the S-File watchlist after travelling to India, Pakistan, Sudan, and Niger.

He is said to practise a strict, fundamentalist form of Islam.

The man is also a member of the Salem Association and other members had previously altered authorities in the area over his behaviour, going as far as signing a petition denouncing him.

The prosecutor in the case had initially pushed for a three-year prison sentence and claimed that the man was using a tactic often deployed by radical Islamists to push out moderate imams and take over local mosques, but he was given a weak suspended sentence regardless.

Radical Islam continues to be a major issue in France, with a 2020 report suggesting that as many as 150 neighbourhoods and areas across the country, possibly more, are “held” by Islamist radicals.

The report, which was authored by France’s domestic intelligence agency, the General Directorate for Internal Security (DGSI), was leaked to the French media.

It also noted that there had been a rise in votes for Islamist parties in some areas as well.

The French Interior Ministry reported last year that radical Islamic ideology is also prevalent on French social media, and that radical ideologies such as Salafism made up the majority of Islamic content being shared online.

Follow Chris Tomlinson on Twitter at @TomlinsonCJ or email at ctomlinson(at)breitbart.com.