FRANCE: One of the leading imams of France's large Muslim minority appeared with his son before a Paris judge yesterday on suspicion of financing terrorism, a judicial source said.
Dhaou Meskine, secretary general of the Council of French Imams, and his son Malek were being investigated for suspicious movements of funds between bank accounts of Muslim associations they managed and several foreign countries.
The Tunisian-born imam is the founder of the first private Muslim school in France and was one of the Muslim leaders consulted by interior minister Nicolas Sarkozy about setting up France's Muslim Council in 2003. The Council of French Imams has protested against his arrest, which it said showed contempt for the five million-strong Muslim minority in France.