91 Per Cent of French Support Deporting Imams Who give ‘Anti-Republican’ Sermons

A total of 91 per cent of French people are behind deporting radical Islamist imams who give sermons and speeches that are contrary to the republican values of France.

The data comes from a poll released this week by the CSA institute, which sounds that 91 per cent of respondents agreed that foreign imams who preach sermons and give speeches contrary to the values of the French republic should be expelled from the country.

Among those over 65, 98 per cent agreed with deporting radical imams, while the number fell to just 72 per cent among those aged between 18 and 25.

Politically, supporters of the far-left France Insoumise party were least supportive of deporting radical imams, but a majority, 71 per cent, still approved of the idea. On the right, supporters of Marine Le Pen’s National Rally (RN) were nearly unanimously in favour of deportations, while the supporters of the centre-right Les Republicains backed the idea at 100 per cent.

The poll comes as radical preacher Imam Hassan Iquioussen is set to be deported from France due to giving speeches that were deemed to be incompatible with French values, with Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin announcing his deportation last week, CNews reports.

Iquioussen, who is of Moroccan heritage, attempted to appeal the deportation order at the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) but had his case rejected by the European court on Thursday.

During his sermons, Iquioussen is accused of preaching hate, particularly against members of the Jewish community, with Minister Darmanin accusing him of “openly anti-Semitic remarks, openly xenophobic, openly homophobic, openly anti-women.”

While Iquioussen was born in France, Minister Darmanin stated that he did not apply for French nationality.

The case comes as another radical imam in Sweden faces hate crime charges for speeches that also took aim at the Jewish community over the last two years.

Imam Basem Mahmoud is said to have claimed that Jews run the West and called Muslims who collude with Jews “traitors.” He faces trial next month in the city of Malmö.

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