Harun Nasrullah
France’s appeasement of the far-right, culminating in the unprecedented Draconian dismantling of its Muslim community’s autonomy, constitutes persecution under international law, according to a report released on March 2.
The scathing report, authored by a French legal jurist, with a foreword by Professor François Burgat, and London-based advocacy NGO CAGE researcher Rayan Freschi, covers the unprecedented crackdown on Islam and Muslims in France under the presidency of Emmanuel Macron.
The report, titled “We are beginning to Spread Terror: The State-Sponsored Persecution of Muslims in France,” highlights the ‘Systematic Obstruction’ policy—unknown outside the country, and scarcely understood inside it—on its four-year anniversary of being introduced. This policy amounts to persecution of Muslims in France, in line with the international law definition of the term.’
The report also details ‘the nature of the persecution in French society’, ‘how state Islamophobia is institutionalised through an infrastructure of enforcement and mass surveillance’ as well as ‘France’s attempts to internationalise its model of repression through its leadership of the EU.’
The report, published in English and French, also calls for the repeal of Islamophobic policies such as the systematic obstruction policy, ‘Anti-Separatism Law’, the Imams’ Charter, as well as the 2004 Law on religious signs in schools and the 2010 Niqab ban.
It calls for the creation of an independent body to investigate systematic obstruction measures. This will provide reparations for damages and losses incurred by establishments and individuals because of such measures.
Commenting on its launch, the author of the report, Ryan Freschi, said, “Four years ago, the French Government initiated a secretive and Draconian Islamophobic policy. This report documents how the French state has swiftly dismantled the foundations of the Muslim community’s autonomy through calculated persecution, spreading terror among an entire religious community. 718 closures, 24,884 inspections, and 46 million euros extorted by the State later, it is time to stop this witch hunt against Muslims.”
“This report highlights how the appetite for anti-Muslim action in France seems endless. Despite the ongoing Islamophobic persecution, the entire French political spectrum still regards Islam and Muslims as issues that have not been sufficiently dealt with.
And Marwan Muhammad, former director of the Collective against Islamophobia in France (CCIF), which was closed down as a result of the Systematic Obstruction policy, said, “These attacks on the fundamental freedoms of belief and association have been rightly identified by human rights groups, equality bodies and European institutions, but the government couldn’t care less.
They are part of Macron’s grand scheme to control Muslims on all possible levels, thus securing the far-right and neo-republican votes.”
Farid Hafez, an academic researcher and expert on European counter-terrorism policies, said, “What they want to create is basically a French Islam that submits to the French will of those in power that has not a unique, independent political agency to criticise the French government, but rather it is one that is silent upon oppression, that submits to the French will of what Islam should look like… I think this is really the project that is at stake currently, as we can see it in France.”
Through its current presidency of the EU Council, France is well-placed to actively project its influence and promote its Draconian Islamophobic policies towards its neighbours. If left unaddressed, the persecution facing Muslims in France is likely to be exported to the rest of Europe.”
