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Faizel Patel – 10/12/2020
The French government has defended draft legislation clamping down on what the country calls Islamist radicalism as a “law of freedom” after a torrent of criticism from Muslim countries and expressions of concern from the US.
President Emmanuel Macron has pushed the legislation – which would tighten rules on issues ranging from religious-based education to polygamy – after a spate of attacks blamed on extremists.
AFP reports Prime Minister Jean Castex told reporters the bill is not a text aimed against religions or against the Muslim religion in particular,” after the cabinet approved a text to present to parliament.
“It is the reverse – it is a law of freedom, it is a law of protection, it is a law of emancipation against religious fundamentalism.”
Castex says the target of the bill “was the pernicious ideology that goes by the name of Islamist radicalism”.
The law was in the pipeline before the October killing of Samuel Paty, a junior high school teacher who was beheaded in the street after showing cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad in a class.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has called the draft law an “open provocation”, while Egyptian scholars called Macron’s views racist.
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