LYON, France, June 22, 2005 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – A court in the southeastern city of Lyon has cleared Algerian imam Abdelkader Bouziane of criminal charges, a year after the government accused him of inciting violence.

“Mr. Bouziane as a man of religion was explaining what his religion says by way of the Qur’an. But it is not the court's role to penetrate the interior of religion,” the court president ruled Tuesday, June 21, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).

Bouziane, former imam of a mosque in the Lyon suburb of Venissieux who lived in France for 25 years on renewable residency permit, was accused of “provocation to commit an assault”.

The court ruled that his remarks in Lyon Mag magazine in April 2004 fell outside the competence of the law.

Bouziane was tried in absentia after he was deported by the interior ministry to his native Algeria over statements that Muslim husbands can beat their unfaithful wives.

Although a French court quashed the deportation in April of last year, he never returned to France protesting the humiliating deportation.

“Religion says that the husband could beat his wife in case of her betrayal. But the law prevents me from saying so in my sermons. I always tell worshipers that we are living in a state and should abide by its laws,” Bouziane told Lyon Mag.

An anti-imam drive has recently gained momentum across Europe with many countries adopting stringent measures taking the “terror and extremism” clichés as a pretext to expel Muslim preachers.

Countries, like France and Germany, have set training courses for imams on Europe’s values and traditions.

They further gave intelligence and security services sweeping powers to expel imams and monitor their sermons.

An IslamOnlin.net poll has showed that expelling imams from European countries would alienate Muslims in the continent.

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