French authorities have arrested Tunisian Imam Mahjoub Mahjoubi on charges of "incitement to terrorism" following a sermon deemed "hostile to France." He had referred to the tricolor flag as "satanic." The French interior minister, Gerald Darmanin, called for the expulsion of Imam Mahjoubi from Banyuls-sur-Mer (southern France) last Sunday, as reported by BFMTV. Darmanin emphasized that "no call to hatred will go unanswered or unpunished."
A snippet of Imam Mahjoubi's sermon, which mainly discussed the topic of "signs of the Hour," caused significant controversy in France after being widely circulated on social media and then in the press, without reference to the general religious context of the sermon. In the circulated clip, the imam spoke about the unity of Muslims in the end times "so that they are not divided by the tricolor flags," describing the disputes that arise over these flags during matches or events as "satanic," while discussing in the overall sermon what Islam prohibits, such as the consumption of alcohol and illicit relationships.
