According to Rahyafte(the missionaries and converts website)France has been accused of systematically targeting its Muslim population with a raft of policies brought in by the office of President Emmanuel Macron to address so-called “separatism and Islamism”.
A new reporthighlights Macron’s use of executive powers to create what it calls a “Systematic Obstruction” policy to target Muslim groups and institutions in France over the last four years.
Drafted in 2017, the policies initially aimed to address why foreign fighters had fled to Syria and Iraq from particular regions in France. They then morphed into a nationwide project aimed at addressing “Islamism” and “community withdrawal” across the country.
Since then, France has introduced a series of controversial laws that several human rights groups have deemed Islamophobic – including the anti-separatism law and imam charter.
The “Systematic Obstruction” policy is implemented by the executive branch of the state, whose task is to enforce the law and establish public policies.
French policy operates, according to Cage, by putting maximum pressure on Muslim groups via the establishment of “department cells” in each of France’s 101 government departments.
French government documents state that the department cells aim to “coordinate the action of all actors likely to contribute to the fight against Islamism and community withdrawal.”
Cage says the systematic obstruction policy has been used to single out Muslim organisations and gives the state “vast powers to monitor and close institutions, unilaterally dissolve organisations and seize money under the pretence of preserving Republican values and combatting Islamism and/or separatism”.
The group said the policy was used to justify the closure of at least a dozen mosques, hundreds of Muslim-owned businesses and charities, and the seizure of millions of euros worth of assets because of the alleged promotion of Islamism.
Source: IQNA
