French minister vows to expel radical muslim leaders
Interior minister Nicolas Sarkozy today vowed that France would have “zero tolerance” for radical Muslim imams, and would take a systematic approach to expelling prayer leaders who preached hatred.
In response to London’s deadly bomb attacks, France plans to be more severe with Muslim preachers “who don’t respect our values and who are not French,” Sarkozy said in an interview with the Liberation newspaper.
“We must be much more severe with those who enlist young suicide bombers,” he added, without elaborating.
“I will step up procedures to forfeit the nationality of French imams who make violent and fundamentalist speeches. It will be zero tolerance!”
Legislation passed last year in France allows non-citizens to be deported for inciting “discrimination, hatred or violence” against any group. At least five Islamic clerics have been expelled.
Sarkozy also reiterated calls for better surveillance of mosques known to draw Islamic extremists, and said France needed to do a better job of integrating the country’s five-million strong Muslim population.
