France on Tuesday expelled an Algerian-born Islamic prayer leader who condoned wife beating, part of a French campaign to punish Muslim clerics preaching violence. Abdelkader Bouziane boarded an Algeria-bound flight from the southeastern city of Lyon, Interior Minister Dominique de Villepin told parliament. "I salute this decision that today allows us to pursue, to expulse foreign citizens who insult or call for violence against women," he said.
Bouziane, who was an imam or prayer leader in the Lyon suburb of Venissieux, was first deported to his native Algeria in April on orders from the Interior Ministry. But the imam returned to France a month later after an administrative court suspended the ruling. France's highest administrative body, the Council of State, on Monday overturned that suspension, clearing the way for Bouziane to be deported again. He was taken into custody on Tuesday morning near one of his homes in Lyon before his expulsion. In the April edition of the magazine Lyon Mag, Bouziane said he favors wife-beating "under certain conditions, notably if the woman cheats on her husband." He claimed the Quran authorizes such punishment, an interpretation rejected by moderate Muslims. The Interior Ministry said he was already on an expulsion list since Feb. 26 for disturbing public order, but the effort to deport him was sped up after the magazine article. |