"There is absolutely nothing against BarakaCity".
This Monday morning, in the court of the Council of State, Idriss Sihamedi, the president of this Islamic NGO dissolved by government decree, insists that his association is not guilty of "inciting hatred", of links with "the radical Islamist movement ”and“ to justify terrorist acts ”.
Black notebook under his arm, this 36-year-old man denounces a judicial “milkshake” at the end of two intense hours of hearing.
The highest administrative court must rule on this dissolution of Barakacity, decided in the Council of Ministers on October 28.
The case was taken under advisement.
The decision will be made on Wednesday 25 November.
Under the gilding of the courtroom, Idriss Sihamedi, blue sweater and thin glasses, sat alongside his lawyers, Mes Bourdon and Brengarth, who filed a request for interim relief.
Facing them, the representative of the Ministry of the Interior, who took point by point the elements of the decree of dissolution.
He concedes having been "clumsy"
“There is a gap between reality and what the Ministry of the Interior could bring, contests Idriss Sihamedi.
He has a Machiavellian, communal, even radical vision of BarakaCity.
Among the grievances of the prosecution, the sulphurous publications of the president of the NGO.
That of August 27, first: “To die as a martyr is the most beautiful thing in the life of a believer […] This is what differs us from them.
To love death as they love life.
Then September 3: "May Allah curse Charlie and set their graves on fire in the heat of the sun."
Idriss Sihamedi concedes having been “clumsy”.
“I'm not going to say I did a 20/20 on Twitter,” he admits, his full beard covered by a mask.
I had already protested against other Charlie Hebdo publications
(which did not concern Islam, editor's note)
on soldiers in Mali, which I found indecent for families.
I can understand that there may be a stir over my words.
I wanted to show that the pencil could hurt, that words have a meaning.
"And to evoke an Asian proverb:" The knife has two edges, the tongue has a hundred ".
"No single thought in Baraka City"
Idriss Sihamedi claims to have "deleted" some of these tweets since.
"At the time, nobody at BarakaCity called you to account?
»Asks the president of the hearing.
“I was told that we had to ease off.
Some members of the board of directors do not adhere to it.
There is no single thought in BarakaCity ”, confides the one whose public speaking is rare, except on Twitter, where he is very active.
The Council of State also returned to this day in 2016, on the television program Le Supplément on Canal +, where Idriss Sihamedi had refused to explicitly condemn the Islamic State.
According to Mr. Brengarth, this aimed to “protect its employees” in a conflict zone.
“Mr Sihamedi explained after he condemned their actions in a long video,” he adds.
He condemns the attacks before the Council of State.
“And today, what is BarakaCity's position?
»Asks the president.
"BarakaCity clearly condemns all attacks on French soil," insists the president of the association.
In the field, we were sometimes a few kilometers from
ISIS checkpoints
.
But we never discussed with them.
"
"These are not at all blunders, replies the prosecution.
In 2017, you responded on Facebook to someone who asked you if you condemn Daesh:
Daesh is a brand of laundry?
It doesn't make sense
”.
In addition, when he tweets, Mr. Sihamedi speaks on behalf of the association, from which he draws an audience.
"
Conversely, for Me Brengarth, "there would be a dangerous precedent from the point of view of fundamental freedoms" if Idriss Sihamedi's tweets directly led to the dissolution of the association.
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The defense then tried to demolish point by point the accusations of the public prosecutor.
Religious songs found on the president's computer?
"My client has more than 1000 music files," argues Me Brengarth.
ISIS's magazine?
"A journalist from France 24 sent it to me, I wanted to check whether an imam was indeed threatened with death by Daesh", replied Sihamedi.
Barakacity's picnic with Sanabil, an association of jihadists dissolved in 2016?
"It was long before their conviction."
“Does the Ministry of the Interior provide proof that under cover of the good promoted by the association, there is evil?
asks Me Bourdon.
No.
It does not prove that the association is the Trojan horse of a deadly ideology.
We just pile up elements: there a search, there a statement in a program, there a proximity with a dissolved association… ”.
At the end of October, the lawyers had proposed to the State the "withdrawal" of the president of Barakacity. Would his resignation be possible? "But my record is blank!" exclaims Idriss Sihamedi. I am ready to make concessions to save BarakaCity. But we've been in the state's sights since 2014. At the time, I wasn't even on social media. It is more a political decision than a judicial one. What bothers them is my profile too… exotic. "