The observations of the lawyers of the Islamic NGO BarakaCity were not enough.
This Wednesday, the Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin, announced the dissolution of the humanitarian association, after having proposed it to the Council of Ministers.
On October 19, three days after the assassination of the history and geography professor of Conflans-Sainte-Honorine Samuel Paty, he announced his desire to “dissolve” 51 associative structures.
BarakaCity is therefore the first to fall.
The second the decree has been signed, the association ceases to exist.
The minister then posted on Twitter the decree of dissolution which details the reasons.
The association is, among others, accused by the government of forging "relations within the radical Islamist movement" and of "taking pleasure in justifying terrorist acts".
"Ready to explore the possibility of appeasement"
Tuesday morning, at the microphone of France Inter, the tenant of Place Beauvau had confirmed his project.
Words that ulcerated the defense of BarakaCity.
“We were received Monday evening to present our observations, reacts Me William Bourdon.
We were ready to explore the possibility of appeasement.
We have proposed greater moderation of comments since what is criticized are the comments under the posts.
We also proposed to set up a charter and a withdrawal of the president
(Editor's note: Idriss Sihamedi)
.
We were told that we would receive a response from the minister.
We discovered it while listening to the radio.
"
The lawyers announced this Wednesday evening that they will contest this dissolution before the Council of State.
"The association, which theoretically no longer exists, must organize itself to urgently transfer its assets and the employment contracts of its forty-seven employees", they still deplore.
The president of the NGO under Turkish influence?
The authorities' reproaches mainly target the president of the NGO, Idriss Sihamedi, for his comments made on social networks and the comments they generate.
For example, in a Facebook post dated September 3 as the trial of the January 2015 attacks begins, he writes: “NO ONE can offend our prophet.
May Allah curse Charlie and set their graves on fire in the heat of the sun.
"
After the announcement of this dissolution, Idriss Sihamedi publicly requested "political asylum with President Erdogan" for himself, his team and the BarakaCity association, because he does not feel "safe in France" .
The NGO could set up its new international headquarters there.
The BarakaCity association was dissolved in the Council of Ministers this morning.
As detailed in the decree that I presented, it incited hatred, maintained relations within the radical Islamist movement, took pleasure in justifying terrorist acts.
To read👇 pic.twitter.com/GEDAN4S9kT
- Gérald DARMANIN (@GDarmanin) October 28, 2020
Following the lies of the government of @ EmmanuelMacron and the closure of the humanitarian and human rights NGO, I officially request the political asylum of @Barakacity from the president @RTErdogan as well as that of my team and myself, who suffers death threats.
- Idriss Sihamedi (@IdrissSihamedi) October 28, 2020
According to connoisseurs of the Islamist movement, the rapprochement of BarakaCity and Erdogan's Turkey since this summer would not be trivial.
The period coincides with the announcement of the government's bill on separatism, and the opening of the trial of the 2015 attacks. In a context of strong tensions between Paris and Ankara, these links raise questions.
Idriss Sihamedi, founder of the NGO, is he under Turkish influence?
"He supports Erdogan because he sees him as a sultan who advocates pan-Islamism
(Editor's note: political system tending to the union of all Muslim peoples)
and holds an anti-Western discourse" observes a specialist in Franco-Turkish networks.
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“Before this summer, Sihamedi was a free electron, abounds this other connoisseur of the Islamist movement.
At present, Turkey seeks to recover certain influential French personalities in France to have relays.
Sihamedi can be one.
You just have to see who is the only head of state who publicly mentioned the BarakaCity affair: Erdogan, who made a video to talk about it.
"
In this video, the Turkish president comments on French news, saying that “President Macron” seeks to “settle scores with Islam and Muslims”.
On October 24 and 28, he then invited Emmanuel Macron to have his "mental health" examined.
The Turkish branch headed by "a figure of Salafism"
Another curiosity: as she indicates on her Twitter account, BarakaCity was present in March 2020 in the Afrin region, in Syria.
An area currently totally under Turkish control.
"It is impossible to enter without Turkish approval," said an expert.
VIDEO. Gabriel Attal: "The Council of Ministers decided to dissolve Baraka City"
In the decree dissolving the association, reference is also made to the “Turkish branch” of BarakaCity, headed by “Mehmet Uzun, Franco-Turkish national, former multiple repeat offender and figure of Salafism, follower of precepts encouraging the jihad in Syria and Iraq ”.
For its part, Sihamedi has multiplied the references and compliments to Turkey since the start of the school year.
During a meeting at the association's headquarters on October 10, Sihamedi tweeted the presence of "the Turkish community" among the participants.
He also warmly thanked Erdogan's country for sending Covid test kits, which arrived on October 5.
"God bless Turkey," he tweeted again on Wednesday.
She might just be her next destination.
