French court convicts Salafi for disrupting mosque prayers

A mosque won an unusual court battle today against a Salafist member of the congregation regarded as disruptive and, in an apparent first for Muslims, used France's 1905 law guaranteeing secularism to argue its case.
A court ruled today in favour of the small Oullins mosque on the edge of Lyon. It convicted Faouzi Saidi, 51, and fined him 1,500 euros (USD 1,640) with 500 euros suspended.
Saidi, contacted by telephone, protested the decision as unjust, saying his only error was to "have a big mouth." "I don't understand why I've been convicted," he said, while conceding he considered one man who served briefly as imam as incompetent.

The events occurred in 2014. Saidi said he was banished from the mosque.
Mosque lawyer Mathieu Allard said the court found Saidi guilty of being disruptive by criticising the imam, holding parallel prayers and preaching his ultraconservative Salafist brand of Islam to converted Muslims.
The 1905 law is the mainstay of French bans on headscarves in classrooms and face-covering veils in streets. But it also provides for legal recourse if the ability to express freedom of conscience is compromised.