the Gard prosecutor’s office appeals the suspended prison sentence of an imam

The Nîmes public prosecutor’s office announced on Friday November 3 that it would appeal the decision taken against an imam from Beaucaire (Gard). The latter was sentenced Thursday to eight months in prison for advocating terrorism and anti-Semitic remarks by the Nîmes criminal court. The Nîmes public prosecutor’s office had requested a prison sentence.

This imam from Beaucaire was tried on Thursday in immediate court appearance, after being placed in pre-trial detention on Wednesday. While the prosecution had requested a sentence of eight months in prison, the criminal court sentenced him to eight months of suspended imprisonment, a ban on exercising the functions of imam and a sentence of ineligibility for a period one year. He was also sentenced to be included in the register of perpetrators of terrorist offenses.

This imam, aged around thirty, was arrested during the night from Monday to Tuesday at Marignane airport near Marseille as he returned from a trip to Saudi Arabia, reported France Bleu Gard Lozère . The man had made anti-Semitic remarks on Facebook, calling for the Jews to be fought, and advocating terrorism, in the context of the war between Israel and Hamas.