The imam of the Al Bader mosque in Meaux (Seine-et-Marne) was indicted Tuesday for regularly celebrating religious marriage before the civil marriage and for unemployment fraud, and placed under judicial supervision, according to a judicial source. A judicial inquiry was started the same day.
The imam, Nourdine Mamoun (33), a French citizen, was banned from meeting husbands and marriage witnesses, and from leaving the country.
He is suspected of having celebrated 8 illegal marriages from Jan. 2006 to Dec. 2007 and of having improperly received a monthly allowance of 930 euro from Assedic (the French unemployment agency) from Aug. 2007 till today.
Laid off by the Islamic Association of Meaux, which runs the mosque, he in effect continued acting as an imam as regarding Assedic, according to the judicial source.
The president of the association, Nabil Jarboui, was interrogated without having been arrested or officially investigated.
About 80 Muslims demonstrated at Meaux Tuesday to show their support for their religious leader and claim a "place of worship worthy of the name", reported a police source. The Al Badr mosque, principal Muslim place in the city, currently accommodates more than 1000 worshipers in a hangar.
According to the judicial source, Mamoun explained regarding the marriages that they were in fact "engagement parties".
Regarding fraud his lawyer, Henri Gerphagnon, said that Mamoun had more contract work and that he continued to work voluntarily for several months in exchange for donations from the worshipers.
The lawyer, who is also the lawyer for the Meaux municipal opposition, denounced the "incredible harassment" and the "disproportionate surveillance" of his clients since the end of 2006 and blames the leaders of the other association, the Association of Muslims in Meaux, of being behind it.
The Association of Muslims in Meaux lodged a complaint at the end of 2006 against the Islamic Association for embezzlement, accusations that weren't substantiated by the investigation, according to judicial sources.
Source: Le Monde (French)
The imam, Nourdine Mamoun (33), a French citizen, was banned from meeting husbands and marriage witnesses, and from leaving the country.
He is suspected of having celebrated 8 illegal marriages from Jan. 2006 to Dec. 2007 and of having improperly received a monthly allowance of 930 euro from Assedic (the French unemployment agency) from Aug. 2007 till today.
Laid off by the Islamic Association of Meaux, which runs the mosque, he in effect continued acting as an imam as regarding Assedic, according to the judicial source.
The president of the association, Nabil Jarboui, was interrogated without having been arrested or officially investigated.
About 80 Muslims demonstrated at Meaux Tuesday to show their support for their religious leader and claim a "place of worship worthy of the name", reported a police source. The Al Badr mosque, principal Muslim place in the city, currently accommodates more than 1000 worshipers in a hangar.
According to the judicial source, Mamoun explained regarding the marriages that they were in fact "engagement parties".
Regarding fraud his lawyer, Henri Gerphagnon, said that Mamoun had more contract work and that he continued to work voluntarily for several months in exchange for donations from the worshipers.
The lawyer, who is also the lawyer for the Meaux municipal opposition, denounced the "incredible harassment" and the "disproportionate surveillance" of his clients since the end of 2006 and blames the leaders of the other association, the Association of Muslims in Meaux, of being behind it.
The Association of Muslims in Meaux lodged a complaint at the end of 2006 against the Islamic Association for embezzlement, accusations that weren't substantiated by the investigation, according to judicial sources.
Source: Le Monde (French)
