French Court Bans 'Jihadist' Muslim Engineer From Nuclear Plant

A French court has upheld a ban on a Muslim Nuclear Engineer from accessing his place of work because he is alleged to have links with a Jihadist group, and a radical Imam who actively recruits young men to fight in Iraq, reports TheLocal.fr.

The French national who has not been named had been working at the Nogent Nuclear Power Plant in the Isle de France since 2012 when he had his clearance revoked in March this year. The ban from entering his place of work was overturned by a French court in June, but he was still prevented from entering the plant in July.

Lawyer Sefen Guez Guez who defended the man and works for the ‘Anti-Islamophobia-Collective’ accused nuclear plant operator EDF of ‘islamophobia’, and objected to the accusation that his client had links to Jihadist groups or ‘was in touch with an imam involved in recruiting youngsters to fight in Iraq’.

Guez Guez insisted “There is no proof of these supposed links”. Regardless, the local French court has now upheld the ban, stating the management was within its rights to prevent individuals who are “undergoing a process of political and religious radicalisation” from accessing their stations.

With over five million resident, France has the largest population of Muslims in Western Europe and has been struggling to come to terms with the rapid social changes this has brought to the country. Certain suburbs of Paris where Muslims make up either a strong minority or majority of the population such as Seine-Saint-Denis are known to the Government as ‘sensitive urban zones’ have become a byword for violence. An unusual New Years Eve tradition of car burning has taken hold, which now destroys over a thousand automobiles a year.

Over 800 French nationals have gone to fight for ISIS in Syria and Iraq, the highest number of any Western European country and significantly more than the official 500 figure for the United Kingdom. France introduced a €150 fine in 2011 for anyone wearing a veil or face covering in public, and €30,000 for anyone forcing a minor to wear one, leading critics to christen it the ‘burqa ban’.