Seized in summary proceedings by the Lille Muslim high school Averroès, the administrative court of Lille rejected, Monday February 12, its request to maintain as a precautionary measure the association contract which binds it with the State since 2008 until the decision of its termination be examined by the trial judges. This decision followed that of December 7 by the prefect of the North then in office, Georges-François Leclerc, to put an end to this contract at the end of the school year. He justified it by management irregularities and teachings that he described as “contrary to the values ??of the Republic” during Muslim ethics courses.
The administrative court justified its decision by the fact that the high school twice evaded control of the funds of its documentation and information center (CDI) while establishments under contract have the obligation to do so, and in particular to that, unexpectedly, of June 27, 2022 “without sufficient reason”.
He also considered “sufficiently established that the Muslim ethics courses were essentially based on a version of the commentaries on the Forty Hadiths of Imam An-Nawawi which includes assessments contrary to the values ??of the Republic” adding that “the refusal of the high school to carrying out an inspection of its documentary collection does not make it possible to demonstrate that these comments are not, as the school asserts, the educational support used by the students for the Muslim ethics course.
The Council of State seized
Me Paul Jablonski and Me Vincent Brengarth, the school’s lawyers, denounced “an unacceptable decision which brushes aside our arguments without responding to them in order to adopt those of the prefecture”. They deplore that “the court did not take into account the reaction of the association which then immediately replaced the head of the establishment” having refused the CDI’s inspection. They emphasize that other inspections, in 2020 and 2023, made it possible to “note its richness and pluralism”.
As for the contested book, they repeat that “it was never placed in the hands of the students as evidenced by our produced certificates”. They announced that they would refer the matter to the Council of State for interim relief.
