Murder at mosque in southern France: 'The political climate only encourages such acts'
Last Friday a Muslim worshipper was stabbed to death at a mosque in the small southern French town of La Grand-Combe. The suspect then fled but has since been arrested in Italy. The brutal killing of the young victim, Aboubakar Cissé, has caused deep grief, anger and political controversy. The government has been accused of being slow to react to the killing while a section of the French Left has attacked the mood of “Islamophobia” in France. In the wake of this stabbing Mediapart spoke to Abdallah Zekri, the rector of the Sud-Nîmes mosque in southern France and vice-president of the Muslim representative body the Conseil français du culte musulman (CFCM). He criticised the way Muslims in France are stigmatised and said he, too, was shocked by the slow response of the authorities after the young man's murder. He spoke to Mediapart's Yann Philippin.
LastLast Friday a young Muslim worshipper, Aboubakar Cissé, was stabbed to death at a mosque in the small town of town of La Grand-Combe in southern France. The suspect in the case fled but has since been arrested in Italy. The brutal killing of this young man has prompted a reaction of grief, anger and political controversy. As Mediapart has reported, though the government has condemned the killing, it was widely seen to have been slow to react to the tragedy in comparison with other cases, and has been accused by sections of the Left of pandering to Islamophobia.
