the former head of a northern mosque expelled to Algeria

The former Algerian manager of a mosque in the North closed in 2018 for apologizing for acts of terrorism, considered by the prefecture as a “leader of Salafism” in the Sambre basin, was expelled to Algeria, the prefecture announced on Wednesday June 14.

Abderrahim “Sayah, who was under a ministerial deportation order, was deported last night to Algeria, his country of origin”, “on instruction” of the Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin, indicates the prefect of the North in a press release on social networks. “Since 2017, thanks to the action of the services (from the Ministry of the Interior)850 radicalized foreigners were expelled,” welcomed the minister on Twitter.

Arrived at the age of 5 in France, where he has six French children, Abderrahim Sayah had founded the religious association Assalem in 2014, opening via this intermediary the As-Sunnah mosque of Hautmont.

Armed jihad and violence

This place of worship “known for dispensing Wahhabi Salafist Islam”, with preaching sermons “armed jihad” And ” violence “ towards Jews and Christians, had been closed in 2018, state services recall in the expulsion order.

During a hearing in September before the expulsion commission of the Lille court, the prefecture had pointed out Abderrahim Sayah’s links with radicalized people – including a Hautmont jihadist presumed dead in Iraq. She had noted sermons delivered in 2017 and 2018 in her presence by the imam of the mosque, one of which advocating the “hatred of Jews”or the pursuit of a “active proselytism”.

“Leader of Salafism”

Abderrahim Sayah “has been considered since 2016 as the leader of Salafism in the Sambre basin”. He “took an active part in the facts that justified the closure of the place of worship” And “contributed” to the ” radicalization “ of a district of Maubeuge, still argues the decree.

He also had a relationship with a man “accused of having provided false identity papers to those responsible for the attacks” of Paris, specifies this text. He further “guilty of many crimes”, the most recent “especially directed against security forces and institutions”, is it written.

The decree cites in particular violence against a firefighter in 2019, repeated death threats against his father-in-law, a former police officer, in 2021, or threats using a handgun against another man in 2021.

Before the commission, Abderrahim Sayah had denied any relationship with the radicalized people mentioned, considering that the State had no “no evidence”. He had landed in “man of peace”which had only one ” administrative function “ at the mosque, and “always fought terrorism”.