Court Rules to Re-Deport Controversial Imam

October 5, 2004

Source: BBC News

http://newsvote.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/3717452.stm

On October 5, 2004 the BBC News reported, "A Muslim preacher who defended wife-beating has been deported from France. Abdelkader Bouziane, an imam from Lyon, was arrested near his home and sent to Algeria on Tuesday, a day after a court ruled he could be expelled. He was originally deported in April, but the decision was overruled and he was allowed to return. In an interview, Mr Bouziane had endorsed wife-beating, declared he was polygamous, and expressed the wish that 'the entire world become Muslim'... a French tribunal ruled the original expulsion illegal because Mr Bouziane had not been charged and was not allowed to defend himself. He returned to France, where he has 16 children by two wives, all with French nationality. The government appealed to the Council of State, France's highest administrative court. On Monday it ruled that the cleric could be thrown out of France after all."