Auvergne

France suspends imam's expulsion order

An administrative court here cleared a path on Friday for the return to France of a Muslim prayer leader who was expelled to Algeria after he condoned wife-beating and the stoning of women.

The expulsion order was temporarily suspended by the court, which noted that the deportation of the prayer leader, Abdelkader Bouziane, separated him from his family in France.

The ruling allows Bouziane to return to France, although at his own cost, at least until the court rules in several weeks whether the expulsion order was legal.

The court did not order the French government to arrange his return but expressed “serious doubt” about the order’s legality.

Gay marriage spreads to France

France is set to have its first same-sex wedding this year, after a local Mayor took exception to the lack of access to marriage for lesbian and gay couples.

Noel Mamere, mayor of the town of Begles in south west France, has said he will conduct the ceremony for the two men in June, after finding no laws in the country that could block it. Although not marriage, France has offered civil union ceremonies, similar in the rights and responsibilities to our currently debated Civil Partnerships bill, since 2000.

Villepin targets non-French imams

Speaking a day after he deported an Algerian imam for saying Islam let husbands beat adulterous wives, Villepin urged the country’s prefects Thursday to expel any foreign preacher who advocated violence, hate, racism or abuses of human rights.

Only about 10 percent of imams in France are citizens and about half of all imams in the country speak French, experts say.

Most are imported from Arab countries, where some have been trained in radical Islamist views that clash with France’s secular laws.

Chirac undecided on EU constitution referendum for France

President Jacques Chirac has not yet decided whether he will hold a referendum in France on a proposed EU constitution, as Britain has declared it will do, a government spokesman said.

“As far as France is concerned, two paths are possible and provided for by the constitution,” spokesman Jean-Francois Cope told journalists.

The two options for ratification he was referring to were a plebiscite and parliamentary approval.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair on Tuesday announced a U-turn on his previous plans to say his country would hold a referendum.