A mosque has won an unusual court battle against a Salafist member of the congregation regarded as disruptive and, in an apparent first for Muslims, used France’s 1905 law guaranteeing secularism to argue its case.
A court ruled on Wednesday in favor of the small Oullins mosque outside of Lyon. It convited Faouzi Saidi, 51, and fined him $1,500 euroes with 500 euros suspended.
Saidi, contacted by telephone, protested that his only error was to “have a big mouth.”M Mathieu Allard, lawyer for the mosque, said the court found Saidi guilty of being disruptive by criticizing the imam, holding parallel prayers and preaching his ultraconservative Salafist branch of Islam to converted Muslims.
