The Daily Sabah reports that France is to inspect 76 mosques in the coming days in a “massive and unprecedented” operation against so-called ‘separatism’.

The country’s interior minister, Gerald Darmanin, said French state services would monitor and control 76 mosques in France. 16 are in the Paris region and while 60 are in other areas of the country. Darmanin said “immediate actions” would be taken against 18 mosques at his request. A circular from Darmanin had been received by the country’s governors regarding the mosque inspections.

Early last month the interior minister announced that that 43 mosques had been closed since President Emmanuel Macron took office, just over three years ago. Meanwhile, the Daily Sabah reports that just two weeks ago, Darmanin had declared that foreign families who raised objections to caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him) being shown in schools faced possible deportation for committing the “crime.”

Last month, Macron sparked outrage in the Muslim world when he said he would not prevent the publishing of the cartoons. He cited “freedom of speech”. French Muslims have accused him of trying to repress their religion and legitimizing Islamophobia. Sabah Daily reports the The chairperson of the Confederation Islamique Milli Gorus France, Fatih Sarıkır, said linking terrorist attacks to Islam has caused great distress to Muslims in France.

Islam is the second-largest religion practiced in the country after Catholicism, with France being home to the largest population of Muslims in Europe.

Umm Muhammed Umar