French PM 'open' to interim ban on foreign funding of mosques

Valls and Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve have come under fire for security failings to prevent terror attacks


Afp July 29, 2016
French Prime Minister Manuel Valls attends a news conference at the Elysee Palace in Paris. PHOTO: REUTERS

PARIS: France's prime minister said Friday he was "open" to a temporary ban on the foreign financing of mosques, after a spate of attacks in the country claimed by jihadists.

Manuel Valls also admitted in an interview with the Le Monde daily it was a "failure" that one of the militants who attacked a church and killed a priest earlier this week had been released with an electronic tag pending trial.

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Valls and Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve have come under fire for perceived security failings that have failed to prevent three major terror attacks in France in 18 months.

The fact that one of the church attackers, 19-year-old Adel Kermiche, was awaiting trial on terror charges and had been fitted with an electronic tag means judges needed to take a "different, case-by-case, approach," Valls said.

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However, the prime minister stressed that the judges in this individual case should not be held responsible for this "act of terrorism."

And as the killing of a priest at the altar of his church sparked fears of religious tensions in secular France, Valls said the country needed to "invent a new relationship" with Islam.

COMMENTS (3)

Asif | 7 years ago | Reply Yes, please BAN mosque funding from foreign countries. If the faithful love what they do then should certainly fund a mosque for their own self. We all are suffering from such fundings all over the world especially in countries like Pakistan.
Sane, level headed Pakistani | 7 years ago | Reply Very good move France...If there is a cancerous part in your body you can't just ignore it..Same way world is in a mess due to extreme ideologies of higher than normal percentage of Muslims and the funding going through the mosques...If this is a potential solution then so be it...It needs to be acted upon quickly and other nations in similar trouble should follow the lead.
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