Conflans attack: BarakaCity has received notification of its dissolution

The procedure is started.

It was 10 p.m. when BarakaCity, an Islamist humanitarian NGO targeted for several years by the authorities, received notification of its administrative dissolution.

The Council of Ministers on Wednesday should take this measure.

Monday, two days after the assassination of history professor Samuel Paty in Conflans-Sainte-Honorine, the Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin, announced that he wanted to see "51 associative structures" disappear, citing in passing the Collective against d Islamophobia in France (CCIF) and BarakaCity, an association based in Evry-Courcouronnes.

On Wednesday, October 14, Idriss Sihamedi, the founder of the NGO, was taken into police custody after being arrested at dawn by the Raid's elite police.

He is accused of having violently attacked the RMC radio columnist Zohra Bitan on Twitter.

He left free, but was summoned on December 4 before the Criminal Court of Evry for "harassment by means of a digital or electronic medium having resulted in an ITT of more than 8 days".

This Wednesday morning, according to one of his lawyers, Me Samim Bolaky, he was again placed in police custody in Paris in the premises of the Brigade for the repression of delinquency against people (BRDP) for "moral harassment" .

New custody of @IdrissSihamedi at the BRDP in Paris for moral harassment on twitter #soutienbarakacity pic.twitter.com/rrWwCToCpU

- Samim BOLAKY (@ Samim940) October 21, 2020

According to our information, this new procedure concerns a wave of tweets targeting the former Charlie Hebdo journalist Zineb El Rhazoui, who lives under police protection because of his statements on radical Islam.

Idriss Sihamedi had launched on Twitter the hashtag #zinebelrhazouigate by announcing to make revelations on the private life of the journalist.

An initiative that caused a surge of hatred on the social network.

Influence on social networks

The state also blames Idriss Sihamedi for his influence on social networks.

Because behind the actions of the NGO for the most needy - 2 million people helped according to its founder - the association also takes criticized positions.

In 2015, he reacted on Facebook to the attack on Charlie Hebdo in these terms: “No one can offend our prophet.

May Allah curse Charlie and set their graves on fire in the heat of the sun.

»Another tendentious tweet:« No one nor even the laws can remove this belief that to die as a martyr is the most beautiful thing in the life of a believer […] This is what differs us from them.

Love death as they love life.

"

"If it remains regularly in the nails of legality, it is the influence it can have on some that worries us", comments a police source from Essonne.

Sihamedi is followed by more than 32,000 people on Twitter.

BarakaCity will seize the Defender of Rights and the CNCDH

As of Monday, Me Samim Bolaky challenged Gerald Darmanin's decision to dissolve the association: "The Minister of the Interior is lacking inspiration, he finds her on Twitter with the hashtag asking for the dissolution of BarakaCity".

Me William Bourdon, another lawyer for the NGO, recalled Tuesday that "the judicial investigation which lasted 3 years on BarakaCity was closed in 2019. There was nothing against the association.

"The latter co-signed a press release with Me Vincent Brengarth, another lawyer for BarakaCity in which they" deplore the amalgamation made between this abject crime and the association ", pointing to a" political and poster purpose "on the part of the Minister of the Interior.

Essonne Newsletter

Every morning, the news of your department seen by Le Parisien

I'm registering

Your email address is collected by Le Parisien to enable you to receive our news and commercial offers.

Learn more

The association has five days to respond to the “document containing the reasons on which the Interior Ministry” wants to dissolve it, BarakaCity lawyers said in a statement on Wednesday morning.

They reiterate the will of the NGO to contest its administrative dissolution and announce that they will "seize the Defender of Rights and the National Consultative Commission of Human Rights", as stated on Twitter Vincent Brengarth, one of the two boards of the organization.

🚨 @Barakacity received yesterday, at 10:10 pm, a document confirming the will of the Ministry of the Interior to dissolve it, with a deadline of 5 days to respond.

We will enter the @Defenseurdroits and the @CNCDH.

Our reaction to this notification with @ BourdonWilliam2 👇 pic.twitter.com/BnkxxYOOTz

- Vincent Brengarth (@v_brengarth) October 21, 2020

Idriss Sihamedi, him, called for calm on Twitter: “To follow up on this decision.

I call on Muslims to exercise the utmost restraint and exercise great discipline, not to give in to division.

We will defend this case by legal means in France and internationally.

"And to add:" Out of respect for the family of the victim, I ordered @Barakacity and La Defense to refrain from any comment from 2 p.m. until the national tribute.

"