France's Muslim dead of World War I

[Al-khiyal]

Verdun, 26 June (AKI) - France's president Jacques Chirac, has unveiled a monument to the 28,000 Muslims who died fighting for France in the bloody World War I battle of Verdun. Marking the 90th anniversary of the battle, Chirac paid tribute to the troops that held back German forces in 10 months of fighting in which 300,000 soldiers died. "All the religions of France are at Verdun," said Chirac at a ceremony on Sunday that was also attended by head of the French Muslim Council, Dalil Boubakeur.

"I hope (this provides) an impulse for the future for a closer integration of all of France’s Muslim communities which are also ... completely French communities, thanks in no small part to the blood they have shed," Boubaker said.

Until now Muslims only had a small plaque dedicated to them, although separate memorials had been erected for Christians and Jews who died at Verdun. A total 78,000 Muslims, many of whom were drafted from former French colonies such as Algeria and Tunisia, died during World War I out of a 1.2 French citizens who were killed.

Some of France’s former colonies have complained that France has not given its colonial troops due credit, arguing that without their efforts, the French capital, Paris would have fallen to the Germans.

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[Al-khiyal]

20 Apr 2007 -- Nazi inscriptions and swastikas have been daubed on about 50 graves in the Muslim section of a military cemetery near Arras in northern France.

The cemetery is one of the country's biggest World War One military cemeteries and was built on the site of a battlefield where many French and German soldiers died between October 1914 and October 1915.

The prosecutor's office said that none of the tombs were destroyed.

During World War One, France mobilized about 600,000 colonial subjects, including many Muslims from Algeria and Tunisia, of whom 78,000 were killed. Some 1.2 million French soldiers were also killed in the war.

"This desecration is all the more shocking because it affects the graves of fighters who gave their lives for France," President Jacques Chirac said in a statement.

"The government is determined to ensure the perpetrators are brought to justice and will keep up its fight against all forms of discrimination," Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin said.

SOS Racism, a rights organization, blamed the vandalism on comments made in the presidential election campaign, without pointing to any particular candidate.

Rival presidential candidates Ségolène Royal and Nicolas Sarkozy also condemned the vandalism.

France is home to 5 million Muslims, Europe's largest Muslim community, making up 8 percent of France's population.

French Muslim graves desecrated

[Al-khiyal]

Three youths have admitted defacing graves in the Muslim section of a military cemetery in northern France and will be placed under investigation on Sunday, prosecutors said.

Nazi inscriptions and swastikas were daubed earlier this week on about 50 graves in the Notre-Dame de Lorette cemetery in Ablain Saint-Nazaire, one of France's biggest World War One military cemeteries, drawing condemnation from President Jacques Chirac and Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin.

The prosecutors' office said the youths had claimed to have Nazi sympathies, and that objects glorifying Hitler's Third Reich had been found in their homes near the town of Lens.

They will be placed under examination for "damages committed jointly for reasons of race or religion" and risk up to five years in prison.

Investigators tracked them down through the car of one of the youths, which was spotted near the cemetery on the night the graves were defaced. The investigation showed that they had been planning their actions for some time, the prosecutors said.

During World War One, France mobilised about 600,000 colonial troops, including many Muslims from Algeria and Tunisia, of whom 78,000 were killed. Some 1.2 million French soldiers were killed.

France is home to Europe's largest Muslim community, with 5 million Muslims making up 8 percent of its population.

Youths admit to defacing Muslim French WWI graves

[Bent_Bladi]

1. that's wonderful that they're acknowledging the Muslimeen. 3ou2bal the others...

2. damn these stupid racists!! i hope they get the five years

[Al-khiyal]

.... i hope they get the five years

ARRAS, France, May 9 (Reuters) - A French court sentenced two men to one year in prison on Wednesday for desecrating a military cemetery by painting Nazi slogans and swastikas on the graves of Muslim war dead.

The two men, aged 18 and 21, were also given a one-year suspended sentence for the crime, which shocked France and drew condemnation from President Jacques Chirac.

The two admitted painting Nazi slogans on about 50 graves in the Notre-Dame de Lorette cemetery in Ablain Saint-Nazaire, one of France's biggest World War One military cemeteries.

A third suspect, a minor, will be sentenced on Thursday.

The two shaven-headed men admitted the action and apologised for what they had done. The state prosecutor said they had expressed "confused ideas, a neo-Nazi, skinhead ideology."

Chirac and Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin led condemnation of the action when it occurred in April, saying the desecration was particularly shocking because the dead soldiers had given their lives for France.

During World War One, France mobilised about 600,000 colonial troops, including many Muslims from Algeria and Tunisia, of whom 78,000 were killed. Some 1.2 million French soldiers were killed.

France is home to Europe's largest Muslim community, with 5 million Muslims making up 8 percent of its population.

France sentences two for WWI cemetery desecration

[Bent_Bladi]

sigh.... tayyeb not even three? they always get the lightest sentence... but if it was some drunk muslim boy who did the same thing on jewish graves ---- no, he'd probably get 10 years...

[Al-khiyal]

French Muslim graves desecrated

Muslim graves desecrated again

April 6, 2008 -- Vandals desecrated 148 Muslim graves in France's biggest war cemetery, hanging a pig's head from one tombstone and daubing slogans insulting France's Muslim justice minister, officials said on Sunday.

President Nicolas Sarkozy expressed "profound outrage" at the "sordid" attack on the Muslim quarter of the Notre Dame de Lorette cemetery, near the northern town of Arras on Saturday night. He vowed that those responsible would be punished.

Notre Dame de Lorette cemetery is France's biggest military necropolis and commemorates tens of thousands of victims of a series of long and bloody battles for control of northern France at the start of World War I.

The attack came almost exactly a year after a similar incident in which neo-Nazi vandals scrawled swastikas on 52 of the cemetery's Muslim graves.

"This is the most inadmissible kind of racism and the president of the republic shares the pain of France's entire Muslim community," Europe's largest at around five million, said a statement issued by the presidency.

"This hateful act is also a attack on the memory of all veterans of World War I, beyond the faith of each one," it said.

The state prosecutor for Arras, Jean-Pierre Valensi, said "the slogans directly target Islam and they gravely insult Rachida Dati, the justice minister," who is the daughter of north African immigrants.

He said a pig's head was hung from one of the graves in the attack.

Dati issued a statement condemning a "hateful act" that "hurts the memory of our dead, of the veterans who gave their lives for France."

"Through its racist connotations, it is an assault on the values of the republic and an insult to all French people."

Muslim community leaders were allowed to visit the scene on Sunday. "This is shameful to see. When there is no more respect it is a disaster," said the regional head of the French Council for the Muslim Religion, Bahssine Saaidi.

"We need to work together... to stop this problem of racism," he said.

Around 100 French gendarmes were at the site to gather evidence. Jean-Marie Bockel, the secretary of state for veteran's affairs, said the government would review security at Notre Dame de Lorette.

"This is horrific, and for the 90th anniversary of the end of the 1914-1918 war. This is worse than the last time, it is abominable," said Jean-Paul Doue, one of 3 800 volunteer honorary guards at the cemetery.

"It is inadmissible, unbelievable," said the curator of the cemetery's museum, David Bardiaux. "The cemetery is not locked, so it doesn't take courage to come and do this."

The Elysee said Sarkozy had called for a swift inquiry and "for those responsible for this act to be punished as they deserve."

France's opposition Socialist Party also voiced "anger and indignation" and called for "exemplary punishment" for the vandals.

Two youths aged 18 and 21 were jailed for a year over last April's attack on the cemetery. A 16-year-old youth received a six-week prison sentence.

Inaugurated in 1925, the Notre Dame de Lorette cemetery houses the remains of some 40 000 soldiers, half of them in named graves. The Muslim quarter includes 576 tombs, grouped together and turned towards Mecca.