France will expel a Muslim prayer leader who said publicly that a man can strike his wife under certain conditions, the Interior Ministry said on Tuesday, just five days after another imam was forced to leave the country.
Justice Minister Dominique Perben said he was "personally scandalized" by the remarks made by Chirane Abdelkader Bouziane in the magazine Lyon Mag. On Tuesday, Bouziane qualified his remarks to reporters, saying that women should be hit only on their buttocks.
Bouziane, 52, from Algeria, was quoted by Lyon Mag as saying he favors beating a wife "under certain conditions, notably if the woman cheats on her husband." He claimed that the Koran "authorizes" such punishment -- an interpretation that is rejected by most Muslims.
Expulsion is a measure designed "to protect" the nation, the Interior Ministry said in a statement.
"The government cannot tolerate remarks in public that are contrary to human rights, detrimental to human dignity and in particular to the dignity of women," the statement said.
It added that "calls of hate or violence or defense of terrorism" were also intolerable.
The state-run TV channel France-2 said Bouziane, imam of a mosque in the Lyon suburb of Venissieux, was to be expelled yesterday morning.
Last Thursday, France expelled an imam who called for jihad, or holy war, from his mosque in Brest, in western France.
France is keeping an increasingly watchful eye on Muslim leaders with a reputation for stirring up the faithful as it works to stamp out the seeds of terrorism and bring the huge Muslim population into the mainstream.
A recently enacted law banning head scarves in public schools starting in September is part of the effort to fight Muslim fundamentalism and ensure equality for women.
Auschwitz survivor Eva Schloss, the stepsister of teenage diarist Anne Frank and a tireless educator about the horrors of the Holocaust, has died. She was 96. The Anne Frank Trust UK, of which Schloss was honorary president, said she died on Saturday in London, where she lived. Britain’s King Charles III said he was “privileged and proud” to have known Schloss, who cofounded the charitable trust to help young people challenge prejudice. “The horrors that she endured as a young woman are impossible to comprehend and yet she devoted the rest of her life to overcoming hatred and prejudice, promoting kindness, courage, understanding
Tens of thousands of Filipino Catholics yesterday twirled white cloths and chanted “Viva, viva,” as a centuries-old statue of Jesus Christ was paraded through the streets of Manila in the nation’s biggest annual religious event. The day-long procession began before dawn, with barefoot volunteers pulling the heavy carriage through narrow streets where the devout waited in hopes of touching the icon, believed to hold miraculous powers. Thousands of police were deployed to manage crowds that officials believe could number in the millions by the time the statue reaches its home in central Manila’s Quiapo church around midnight. More than 800 people had sought
Cambodia’s government on Wednesday said that it had arrested and extradited to China a tycoon who has been accused of running a huge online scam operation. The Cambodian Ministry of the Interior said that Prince Holding Group chairman Chen Zhi (陳志) and two other Chinese citizens were arrested and extradited on Tuesday at the request of Chinese authorities. Chen formerly had dual nationality, but his Cambodian citizenship was revoked last month, the ministry said. US prosecutors in October last year brought conspiracy charges against Chen, alleging that he had been the mastermind behind a multinational cyberfraud network, used his other businesses to launder
Uncontrolled fires burned through bushland in the Australian state of Victoria yesterday, forcing communities to evacuate and authorities to warn of a “catastrophic” fire danger rating for today. Amid temperatures that exceeded 40°C in parts of the state, two large bushfires were raging near the towns of Longwood and Walwa. The fires had destroyed at least two structures and were expected to continue to spread today as heat and wind pick up, authorities said. The Longwood fire had grown to more than 25,000 hectares in size, while the Walwa fire was 10,000 hectares and has created its own weather system, with a pyrocumulonimbus
RSS