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Pool / REUTERS
Nicolas Sarkozy, president of France, has banned Muslim clerics from entering the country. Many view his position as a political response to the fatal shootings by a Frenchman with ties to al-Qaida last week.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy said Monday he would bar a group of clerics from traveling to France for an Islamic conference next month, the French news organization Liberation.fr reported.
"I have clearly indicated that there are certain people who have been invited to this congress who are not welcome on French soil," Sarkozy told France Info radio.
Sarkozy’s announcement has been viewed as a political response to the murders in Toulouse, The New York Times reported, when Mohammed Merah, a young Frenchman with alleged ties to al-Qaida, fatally shot a young rabbi, three Jewish children at a school in southern France and three paratroopers. Since the killings, the president has also said he wants to punish people for repeatedly viewing extremist Islamic websites and for traveling abroad for terrorist training.
French shooting victims shot at close range
Among those who may not enter the country is Sheik Youssef al-Qaradawi, a prominent Egyptian cleric who lives in exile in Qatar. Sarkozy had to appeal directly to the Qatari government to prevent the 86-year-old cleric from entering, since he has a diplomatic visa. Al-Qaradawi was also banned from visiting England in 2008.
Suhaib Salem / Reuters
Egyptian cleric Sheikh Youssef al-Qaradawi spoke to 200,000 demonstrators in Egypt following the fall of Hosni Mubarak.
Al-Qaradawi is a household name in the Arab world, known for being a prominent Sunni scholar and television personality on Al Jazeera. He is also a man of contradictions, one who has criticized Arab governments for their lack of democracy and who has urged demonstrators in Egypt's Tahrir Square to “guard your revolution,” the Times reported.
He triggered outrage when he defended Palestinian suicide bombers and surprise when he railed against the 9/11 terrorism attacks, the Guardian reported in 2005.
"The difference is huge,” al-Qaradawi told the Guardian. “What happens in Palestine is self-defense. But in 9/11 they were not fighting an invasion; they didn't just use their own bodies but those of all the others in the planes. These young men attacked non combatants – even other Muslims and Arabs - going about their daily lives.”
The International Union of Muslim Scholars, which al-Qaradawi leads, is holding the April 6 conference. They said they would respect Sarkozy’s request.
But Sheik Ali al-Qaradaghi told the Agence France-Presse that al-Qaradawi is a “moderate scholar who contributed to combating extremism in Islamic thought” and who vehemently opposed the shootings in Toulouse.
France has worked with the cleric before; the Times reported that Philippe Douste-Blazy, the French foreign minister, traveled to Qatar for the cleric’s help in releasing French journalists kidnapped in Iraq. They were released, and Douste-Blazy thanked the cleric profusely.
Sarkozy, who is running for re-election, is trailing slightly behind Socialist candidate François Hollande in the latest opinion polls.
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☪=卐
Anon, I get it. The crescent moon is an Islamic symbol. You are equating it to the swastika. Good and accurate analogy. Finally there is a French leader with cojones. Now if he could only find a way to send all of the Muslims in France back to their Muslim lands.....the lands that Muslims say is only for Muslims. All other religions are NOT welcome. Yet they look to emigrate to Christian countries in the West. It is all part of their plan of world domination. What a hateful and hypocritical group of human beings. We in the USA must wake up now or it will be too late. I don't want my descendants being forced to pray to Mecca five times a day.
Muslims in America, please leave the USA and go to an Islamic country where no one will profile you. No one will hate you because of your silent support for terrorists. Go and live in a country like Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Libya or Egypt. In these countries you can live an openly Islamic and hate-filled life. Do everyone a favor and go.
Sarkozy Martel!
US presidential candidates would fall all over themselves trying to explain this or that. Sarkozy is not anti-Islam. He is defending the interests of his country. I wish our political leaders, both Reps and Dems, would do the same.
Sarkozy: Some Muslim clerics 'not welcome on French soil', he did the right thing and he protect his country and his citizens, god bless
I believe Mr. Sarkozy is doing the right thing. Why should people who openly threaten France's way of life, be allowed in France. The People of France have the right to ban enemies of France from entering their country.
France should be allowed to kick any Non French (non-French citizens) out of their country, especially if they are shown to possible cause physical harm to their citizens. Send the Non-citizen back to their home country. Why should this be France's problem.
Eric, "allowed"? make it "obligated"
Good for him. we need to stand up to islam and say we don't want their evil ways in our society. they claim to be a religion of peace, yet NO ONE I have talked to see's any peace in it. I hope all countries stand up to islam. I don't care if it's a religion protected in most countries. it is an institution of war, hate, regression, hostility, condemnation, control, abuse, rape, mutilation and murder. they are the most ungodly religion I have ever seen.
Yeah , the peacful beginning half of the koran was only written to throw off the naive .Many ex muslims have stated that the end half of the koran supercedes the first .You know, the people who also have a "fatwa " put out on them for quiting .
http://www.apostatesofislam.com/
Good decision and well done Monsieur Sarkozy!
Way to go Nick!! Keep up the good work!
Many religious ideologues are very bad people, imagining that they are favored by God and the others deserve harsh treatment. It's time for rational and humane people to stand up to these irrational sociopathic religious ideologues. Ridicule, ostracize, boycott, ban and jail them, as appropriate. Perhaps you will thereby help to liberate them from the inane religiosity that befuddles their minds and warps their personalities.
Finally a politician with some balls .Even if he is french ;) thumbs way up Sarkozy for the common sense move !
i wish the politician in USA have some balls too but i am real sorry to say this administration do not have any.
The PC politicians in this country have all pretty much been neutered thanks to left wing pansified thinking .
Now the Radical Islamists will Bomb The Sheite Out Of Your Country and Take Out Many Of Their Own When It Hits - They Do Not CAIR it's all in the Koran - We Must KILL everyone who opposes Islam !
Obama are you taking notes? You suould be.
I think I'm starting to like France.
Don't be fooled, it is an election year there as well. But then again if you turn tail and run, you should fit right in over there.
Good for You..Sarko!
Better do it now to show that the French still have balls, than to wait for a Socialist president to slobber all over these hateful vermin...
I don't blame the French President. IF a cleric preaches hate, war, jihad, THEN stay home. You want to travel. You want to be a part of the world community. You want to be a leader of your religion or people. THEN act with respect for differences of opinion, for different religions, for fear from violence. And wake up. Yeah, the Israelis are their own worst enemy. They don't want real peace any more than the Palestinians. But the palestinian leadership, beginning with Arafat, and now Hamas, Hezbollah, and the rest, NEVER did anything except keep their people down and out by preaching and practicing war and hatred. So, good for the president of france.
It's all about the International Banks. If you do not support the Bank run, New World Order, they will discredit and wage war on your people.
Malo, if your people are the Muslims, then you are right. You and your people are waging war against the Christians in the West, the Jews worldwide and the Hindus in India. You and your fellow Muslims are a violent community. The world would be safer and better off without the terrorist nation of Islam. You and your pariah Muslim brothers sicken the world with your toxic form of religion. International banks and New World Order. You are mentally and spiritually ill.
Muslim clerics allowed on any civilized countries soil is an insult to civilized people everywhere.
William...that's the best comment of the day! Or probably of the year! Keep em out!!
You could not say it better HONEST J.
honest j i can't agree more. it will only be more difficult the longer we wait
Why Is There An International Union Of Muslim Scholars Meeting In France In The First Place?!! See how much of a foothold they are getting there?! Big numbers! You Go Sarkozy! Good job.
Muslim clerics who teach hatred, violence and intolerance should not be allowed to be present in any country other than their own. Sadly, that's probably most of them.
Germany, England and France are now paying the price for allowing the huge influx of Muslims into their countries, where these Muslims demand special treatment and seek to be governed by Sharia Law instead of the laws of their adopted countries. They refuse to honor their adopted customs and for the most part show nothing but intolerance and disdain for the citizens of their adopted countries. They desire all the benefits of a free society while teaching intolerance to their children. They will achieve through immigration and unchecked reproduction what they cannot achieve through violence and war.
Radical Islam is the biggest threat to world peace. In the eyes of Muslim zealots, all those not of the Islamic faith are infidels who deserve nothing more than to be put to death. They have nothing but contempt for any customs that do not follow their stone age behavior. I do not blame peaceful Muslims for all the innocent deaths caused by the radicals among them but I do blame them for doing nothing to stop the senseless intolerance, hatred and violence connected with their religion. Their silence is deafening.
I once had respect and admiration for Muslims and their courage to stand by their convictions, before they expanded their hatred of Jews into a hatred of everything not Islamic; however, the only thing I now feel for Muslims is my desire that they simply go away, disappear from the face of the earth. I dislike myself, to some degree, for feeling this way but due to the actions of modern Muslims I can feel no other way. Killing and maiming innocent civilians and military personnel simply rubs me the wrong way. If Muslims themselves are not willing to stop the religious insanity, the deliberate killing of innocents, civilized nations will be left with no choice other than to take the war to them and let them experience the fruits of their religious hatred.
They always had a hatred for everything not islamic, they just hid it better back then . Also the liberal media did a better job of hiding islam's true intentions back then . Now the truth is poking it's ugly head out more than ever before.
So when they hate only Jews it is OK with you?
The lesson for us here is to get off the PC train.Aside from the fact that our immigration policies are woefully inadequate and archaic,the notion of peoples moving all over in this 21st century is ridiculous.The west lifted mankind.Now our laws are to be our downfall.We need to elect people who want to help AMERICA.Not rep or dem who just want to help their party and wealthy constituents. On a side note some of the article seems encouraging as far as some of the clerics' actions seemingly modern
We as America would do better watching out for the rabid fuddamentalist of all denominations in our own country, and start reconizing all religions follow the same pattern controle over the general population I lump all religions in the same basket just a bunch of crazy mixed up zelot that need to be destroyed before the destroy all free throught.