French Islamic school shuts after raid as Macron takes hard line on Muslim Brotherhood

IESH has seen its assets frozen and hard drives taken

The IESH educated about 200 students annually in Quranic studies, Islamic theology and the Arabic language. AFP

France's European Institute of Social Sciences (IESH), historically linked to the Muslim Brotherhood, has voluntarily disbanded after government accusations of alleged terrorism links and illicit financing, an insider has told The National.

The announcement comes as President Emmanuel Macron intensifies his campaign against Brotherhood-affiliated institutions. The IESH, located in the central region of Burgundy, was officially notified on June 17 of the Interior Ministry of its intention to dissolve the institute, which educated about 200 students annually in Quranic studies, Islamic theology and the Arabic language. The ministry simultaneously froze IESH's assets.

In response, the institute's board opted to shutter the centre pre-emptively and appealed the decision, saying in a press statement that it closure would be a “negative signal sent to a whole section of society invested in civil peace and living together”.

“They accuse us of promoting terrorism, of denigrating women, and of applying Sharia principles,” said an IESH source who requested anonymity to speak more freely. “This is based on books they found. That's not proof. On the contrary, we are here to comment on such books, put them in context, and explain what has no place.”

French President Emmanuel Macron has vowed to strengthen the training of imams in France since 2020 with little result. AFP

The IESH was founded in 1992 on land acquired by the Brussels-based Council of European Muslims. It was identified in a recent report on the Muslim Brotherhood published by the Interior Ministry as one of the group's most important European institutions.

The IESH was the “pilot model” for other institutions that were subsequently created across Europe, according to the report. Where that leaves other institutions bearing its name is yet to be seen. The multistorey IESH in the Paris suburb of St Denis told The National that it had not been caught up in the state procedure against IESH in Burgundy. Operations there are not affected.

The source in the institute added that without the IESH at Chateau Chinon, there would be no more institutions in France able to train Muslim religious leaders. “No other institution to my knowledge adheres to Republican values,” they said.

The IESH captured headlines in December when inspectors searched its premises amid suspicions of receiving funds from Qatar. Its IT equipment was confiscated shortly after. “They came and took everything. We don't even have hard drives any more,” the source there said. “We are in the process of closing down. There will be no back to school session in September.”

The hilltop seminary is one of several Islamic institutions in France that has been pressured by the state to cease its activities. Other high-profile cases include the Averroes private school in the northern city of Lille.

Asset freezes

How IESH will be treated under the new measures announced on Monday by Mr Macron is now the open question facing the dissolved body. At an inner cabinet meeting, new measures dedicated to fighting the Muslim Brotherhood's influence in France were approved. Among them are the disbandment of endowment funds and a new asset-freeze mechanism. “We have so far received no information regarding the latest announcements,” the source said.

Mr Macron promised to boost the domestic training of imams – first announced in 2020 with little results – but gave no further details. According to the IESH source, about 80 per cent of its students came from France, with others from countries like Belgium, Germany and Spain. France has the largest Muslim minority population in Europe.

The state will also block institutions from transferring funds abroad in case they are shut down, according to media reports after the cabinet meeting: “The President approved measures to freeze financial assets supporting the Muslim Brotherhood, which were previously intended for terrorism cases.”

When asked about the implementation of the new measures and the IESH, the Elysee redirected The National to the Interior Ministry which did not answer a request for comment.

In France, there were nine dissolutions of endowment funds recorded at the end of May, Le Figaro reported, while seven other dissolution procedures are under way. A majority of countries have significant holes in how they investigate terrorism financing cases, according to a report published this week by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), a global money laundering watchdog.

A pupil walks outside the "Institute of the Saint Koran" building on February 11, 2015 at the IESH in Burgundy. AFP

IESH has faced intensified scrutiny in the past months with a newspaper report in May making public the contents of an internal note written by intelligence services that accused the institution of strong links with the Muslim Brotherhood.

Extremist debate

Security services also suspected its director Larabi Becheri of receiving 40,000 euros in cash from a private Saudi donor in 2021, according to the report cited in Le Journal du Dimanche. Last summer, state services found books “inciting jihad, encouraging anti-Semitism and legitimising violence against women”, the newspaper added.

In its defence, the IESH has worked to allay the concerns. It submitted a 40-page letter to the Interior Ministry since June defending its teaching programme. The institute has claimed to have co-operated with authorities, forwarding potential risk profiles to the local prefecture, which represents the state at a department level, newspaper La Croix reported.

In 2020 interview, Mr Becheri acknowledged that his institute was founded “on the basis of an idea” by the Muslim Brotherhood but insisted: “There is no Muslim Brotherhood here.”

It has its defenders. One of its teachers Bernard Godard, a former specialist in Islam at the Interior Ministry, who lectures in religious studies at the IESH, told La Croix that “they are conservative in terms of morals and Islamic orthodoxy, but they are not fundamentalists”.

Haoues Seniguer, a lecturer in political science at Sciences Po University who has visited IESH several times, told the daily that the institute was composed of “conservatives who seek to facilitate the practice of observant Muslims in a French context”.