A French court of appeals fined far-right leader Jean-Marie Le Pen for discrimination, hatred or racial violence for anti-Muslim remarks he made in an interview in Le Monde in 2003. The National Front party leader was ordered to pay 10,000 Euros in fines and 5,000 Euros in damages to the plaintiff, the French League of…
The leader of the Paris Mosque, Dalil Boubakeur, has proposed a moratorium on the French 1905 law separating Church and State, citing the insufficient number of mosques being built in France. Questioned by French newspaper Le Monde, Mr. Boubakeur set forth a moratorium of 10-20 years on the law, which forbids the public funding of…
Women hold a record number of seats in the new French parliament, including the first ever black female deputy elected on the mainland, but legislative elections Sunday failed to radically shift the balance in a chamber still dominated by white men. Political parties on the left and right were under pressure to boost the share…
The HALDE promotes the principle of non-discrimination The High Authority for the Struggle Against Discrimination and for Equality (HALDE) has found it “contrary to the principle of non-discrimination on religious grounds” that mothers wearing Islamic headscarves be excluded from accompanying students on field trips and extra-curricular activities. {(continued in French)} FOULARD STATUT DES M_RES ACCOMPAGNANT…
By Daniel Strieff PARIS – Mustapha Tougui says he has the Quran in his blood. The Moroccan-born, Saudi-educated lecturer at the Muslim theological institute at the Paris Grand Mosque uses earthy language as he tries to preserve what he calls his students’ spiritual hygiene. His enthusiasm is infectious. “If you eat always your mother’s cooking,…
