France says it deported 40 imams since 2012 for ‘preaching hatred’

France said it had deported 40 foreign imams for “preaching hatred”

Days after a gruesome attack at a gas factory, France said it had deported 40 foreign imams for “preaching hatred” over the past three years, a quarter of them in the last six months.

Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve vowed to clamp down on mosques and preachers inciting hatred. Any “foreign preacher of hate will be deported,” said Cazeneuve, adding that several Sunni mosques were being investigated for inciting terrorism and if found to be doing so, “will be shut down”.

The attack last week had the hallmarks of a militant act but is also believed to have personal motivations, as it was the second attack in six months in France, which is battling to curb radicalization that has seen hundreds of citizens leave to join militant groups in Iraq and Syria.