Preachers at the Lagny-sur-Marne mosque had spent years “inciting hatred and calling for jihad” according to Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve.
Cazeneuve added the mosque in east Paris was closed in December for being at the heart of a jihadist recruitment network. The Islamic groups ran the mosque in Paris that was shut down late last year following a huge security crackdown across France.
French police found Kalashnikov bullets and Islamic State (ISIS) propaganda during a raid before the mosque’s closure. The mosque’s former president Hammoumi Mohamed fled to Egypt in 2014 with about 10 worshippers.
French officials accuse him of indoctrinating Muslims and recruiting followers for Daech. The dissolution of the groups is the first such order since France imposed a state of emergency after the November 2015 Paris terror attacks which left 130 dead.
Cazeneuve said: “There is no place in the French Republic for groups which incite, and which call for terrorism or call for hate.”
The government’s spokesman Stephane Le Foll added: “The fight against preachers of hate will be total.” He said the three banned groups “were clearly taking action to incite jihad.” One of the banned groups was called “Back to our Roots.”
Cazeneuve also revealed that 30 hate preachers have been expelled from France since the start of 2015.
