A resignation and a lot of questions.
Sunday evening, M'Hammed Henniche announced his resignation at the head of the Muslim Federation of Pantin (Seine-Saint-Denis) in order, he explained by message, to "save the emphyteutic lease" signed in 2013 between the town hall and its association, to build a mosque in this town of more than 55,000 inhabitants.
The place of worship is to be built on a plot partly occupied by a former gymnasium transformed into a temporary mosque in 2010 and welcoming around 1,500 faithful.
In his message, the rector also announced the identity of his successor: Dramé Abderrahman.
A name unknown to the general public, which contrasts with the local notoriety of M'Hammed Henniche.
M'Hammed Henniche (here in 2014) announced on Sunday evening that he was resigning from his post of rector of the Pantin mosque./DR
Since last October, the one who is also secretary general of the Union of Muslim Associations (UAM) of Seine-Saint-Denis has been under fire from criticism.
He was accused of having posted, on October 9, on the mosque's Facebook page - followed at the time by 98,000 people - a video of the student's parent who attacked Samuel Paty, this Yvelines history professor assassinated for showing caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad during a course on freedom of expression.
Following this publication, the prefect of Seine-Saint-Denis had decided to close the place of worship for six months in order to "prevent the commission of terrorist acts".
In recent weeks, M'Hammed Henniche - who apologized for relaying the famous message on Facebook - was publicly in the sights of the prefecture and the Minister of the Interior.
The search for a successor was very difficult
If he was not officially the subject of any criminal prosecution, Gérald Darmanin had described him as a “sinister individual” during a visit to the Bobigny prefecture on February 18.
He had also conditioned an early reopening of the place of worship, officially closed until April 19, on his replacement at the head of the Federation.
For the sake of appeasement, and to ensure the reopening of the mosque at the start of Ramadan, in mid-April, M'hammed Henniche had told the
Parisian
on March 12 - just before formalizing his resignation, therefore - to look for a successor.
“As early as January, I told the association that a solution had to be found.
But nobody wanted this post of president, who must respond to a summons to the police station to answer questions about his home, his marital situation… ”he explained.
So he found it.
Who is Dramé Abderrahman?
This Monday, neither M'Hammed Henniche nor the federation's lawyer responded to our requests.
Still, this resignation is not the last episode in the reopening of the Pantin mosque scheduled, according to M'Hammed Henniche, for April 15.
This Thursday, the city's municipal council must precisely vote a deliberation which cancels the emphyteutic lease that the mayor had signed in 2013 with the federation.
The association has lost its religious character, the lease is null and void
"By a letter dated December 29, 2020, the prefect of Seine-Saint-Denis informed the mayor of the town of the withdrawal of the administrative rescript, from which the Muslim Federation of Pantin benefited and thus of the loss, by the association , of its cultic character, indicates deliberation.
The prefect also indicated that the Federation (...) no longer has the possibility, as it stands, to legally execute the lease in question.
Indeed, Article L. 1 311-2 of the General Code of Local Authorities gives local authorities the option of concluding an emphyteutic lease with a view to building a place of worship assigned to associations whose sole purpose is to 'exercise of worship.
»Result: the lease is null and void.
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According to AFP, the prefect, Georges-François Leclerc, took this decision on the grounds that the activities of the association had "violated public order".
However, he never communicated publicly about this decision.
Is M'Hammed Henniche's resignation a game-changer?
Will the prefect come back to the loss of the association's cultic character?
This Monday, the prefecture did not answer our questions.
The mayor of Pantin, Bertrand Kern (PS), very discreet on the subject since October, either.
“There has been no transparency from the town hall since the start of the affair, criticizes Geoffrey Carvalhinho, elected opposition member (LR) in Pantin.
We don't know anything about what's going on.
Are we going to vote for the cancellation of the deliberation on Thursday to vote for a new lease before April 15 and allow the reopening of the mosque?
Can she reopen without this lease?
No idea.
We are waiting for answers. "
Monday evening, Gérald Darmanin requested the reopening of the mosque. Once the change of leaders has been confirmed, the Minister of the Interior asked the prefect of Seine-Saint-Denis "to get in touch with the new team to consider the reopening of the mosque as soon as possible", in a message posted on Twitter.