France's European Institute of Social Sciences (IESH), historically linked to the Muslim Brotherhood, has voluntarily disbanded after government accusations of alleged terrorism links and illicit financing, an insider has told The National.
The announcement comes as President Emmanuel Macron intensifies his campaign against Brotherhood-affiliated institutions. The IESH, located in the central region of Burgundy, was officially notified on June 17 of the Interior Ministry of its intention to dissolve the institute, which educated about 200 students annually in Quranic studies, Islamic theology and the Arabic language. The ministry simultaneously froze IESH's assets.
In response, the institute's board opted to shutter the centre pre-emptively and appealed the decision, saying in a press statement that it closure would be a “negative signal sent to a whole section of society invested in civil peace and living together”.
“They accuse us of promoting terrorism, of denigrating women, and of applying Sharia principles,” said an IESH source who requested anonymity to speak more freely. “This is based on books they found. That's not proof. On the contrary, we are here to comment on such books, put them in context, and explain what has no place.”
The IESH was founded in 1992 on land acquired by the Brussels-based Council of European Muslims. It was identified in a recent report on the Muslim Brotherhood published by the Interior Ministry as one of the group's most important European institutions.
The IESH was the “pilot model” for other institutions that were subsequently created across Europe, according to the report. Where that leaves other institutions bearing its name is yet to be seen. The multistorey IESH in the Paris suburb of St Denis told The National that it had not been caught up in the state procedure against IESH in Burgundy. Operations there are not affected.
The source in the institute added that without the IESH at Chateau Chinon, there would be no more institutions in France able to train Muslim religious leaders. “No other institution to my knowledge adheres to Republican values,” they said.
The IESH captured headlines in December when inspectors searched its premises amid suspicions of receiving funds from Qatar. Its IT equipment was confiscated shortly after. “They came and took everything. We don't even have hard drives any more,” the source there said. “We are in the process of closing down. There will be no back to school session in September.”
The hilltop seminary is one of several Islamic institutions in France that has been pressured by the state to cease its activities. Other high-profile cases include the Averroes private school in the northern city of Lille.
Asset freezes
How IESH will be treated under the new measures announced on Monday by Mr Macron is now the open question facing the dissolved body. At an inner cabinet meeting, new measures dedicated to fighting the Muslim Brotherhood's influence in France were approved. Among them are the disbandment of endowment funds and a new asset-freeze mechanism. “We have so far received no information regarding the latest announcements,” the source said.
Mr Macron promised to boost the domestic training of imams – first announced in 2020 with little results – but gave no further details. According to the IESH source, about 80 per cent of its students came from France, with others from countries like Belgium, Germany and Spain. France has the largest Muslim minority population in Europe.
The state will also block institutions from transferring funds abroad in case they are shut down, according to media reports after the cabinet meeting: “The President approved measures to freeze financial assets supporting the Muslim Brotherhood, which were previously intended for terrorism cases.”
When asked about the implementation of the new measures and the IESH, the Elysee redirected The National to the Interior Ministry which did not answer a request for comment.
In France, there were nine dissolutions of endowment funds recorded at the end of May, Le Figaro reported, while seven other dissolution procedures are under way. A majority of countries have significant holes in how they investigate terrorism financing cases, according to a report published this week by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), a global money laundering watchdog.
IESH has faced intensified scrutiny in the past months with a newspaper report in May making public the contents of an internal note written by intelligence services that accused the institution of strong links with the Muslim Brotherhood.
Extremist debate
Security services also suspected its director Larabi Becheri of receiving 40,000 euros in cash from a private Saudi donor in 2021, according to the report cited in Le Journal du Dimanche. Last summer, state services found books “inciting jihad, encouraging anti-Semitism and legitimising violence against women”, the newspaper added.
In its defence, the IESH has worked to allay the concerns. It submitted a 40-page letter to the Interior Ministry since June defending its teaching programme. The institute has claimed to have co-operated with authorities, forwarding potential risk profiles to the local prefecture, which represents the state at a department level, newspaper La Croix reported.
In 2020 interview, Mr Becheri acknowledged that his institute was founded “on the basis of an idea” by the Muslim Brotherhood but insisted: “There is no Muslim Brotherhood here.”
It has its defenders. One of its teachers Bernard Godard, a former specialist in Islam at the Interior Ministry, who lectures in religious studies at the IESH, told La Croix that “they are conservative in terms of morals and Islamic orthodoxy, but they are not fundamentalists”.
Haoues Seniguer, a lecturer in political science at Sciences Po University who has visited IESH several times, told the daily that the institute was composed of “conservatives who seek to facilitate the practice of observant Muslims in a French context”.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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WHAT IS A BLACK HOLE?
1. Black holes are objects whose gravity is so strong not even light can escape their pull
2. They can be created when massive stars collapse under their own weight
3. Large black holes can also be formed when smaller ones collide and merge
4. The biggest black holes lurk at the centre of many galaxies, including our own
5. Astronomers believe that when the universe was very young, black holes affected how galaxies formed
The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
SUZUME
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Started: 2013
Founder: Ulugbek Yuldashev
Sector: e-commerce
Size: 600 plus
Stage: still in talks with VCs
Principal Investors: self-financed by founder
RESULT
Argentina 0 Croatia 3
Croatia: Rebic (53'), Modric (80'), Rakitic (90' 1)
Celta Vigo 2
Castro (45'), Aspas (82')
Barcelona 2
Dembele (36'), Alcacer (64')
Red card: Sergi Roberto (Barcelona)
Saturday's results
Women's third round
- 14-Garbine Muguruza Blanco (Spain) beat Sorana Cirstea (Romania) 6-2, 6-2
- Magdalena Rybarikova (Slovakia) beat Lesia Tsurenko (Ukraine) 6-2, 6-1
- 7-Svetlana Kuznetsova (Russia) beat Polona Hercog (Slovenia) 6-4. 6-0
- Coco Vandeweghe (USA) beat Alison Riske (USA) 6-2, 6-4
- 9-Agnieszka Radwanska (Poland) beat 19-Timea Bacsinszky (Switzerland) 3-6, 6-4, 6-1
- Petra Martic (Croatia) beat Zarina Diyas (Kazakhstan) 7-6, 6-1
- Magdalena Rybarikova (Slovakia) beat Lesia Tsurenko (Ukraine) 6-2, 6-1
- 7-Svetlana Kuznetsova (Russia) beat Polona Hercog (Slovenia) 6-4, 6-0
Men's third round
- 13-Grigor Dimitrov (Bulgaria) beat Dudi Sela (Israel) 6-1, 6-1 -- retired
- Sam Queery (United States) beat Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (France) 6-2, 3-6, 7-6, 1-6, 7-5
- 6-Milos Raonic (Canada) beat 25-Albert Ramos (Spain) 7-6, 6-4, 7-5
- 10-Alexander Zverev (Germany) beat Sebastian Ofner (Austria) 6-4, 6-4, 6-2
- 11-Tomas Berdych (Czech Republic) beat David Ferrer (Spain) 6-3, 6-4, 6-3
- Adrian Mannarino (France) beat 15-Gael Monfils (France) 7-6, 4-6, 5-7, 6-3, 6-2
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Director: Jamal Salem
Starring: Abdulla Zaid, Joma Ali, Neven Madi and Khadija Sleiman
Two stars
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
McLaren GT specs
Engine: 4-litre twin-turbo V8
Transmission: seven-speed
Power: 620bhp
Torque: 630Nm
Price: Dh875,000
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Ain Dubai in numbers
126: The length in metres of the legs supporting the structure
1 football pitch: The length of each permanent spoke is longer than a professional soccer pitch
16 A380 Airbuses: The equivalent weight of the wheel rim.
9,000 tonnes: The amount of steel used to construct the project.
5 tonnes: The weight of each permanent spoke that is holding the wheel rim in place
192: The amount of cable wires used to create the wheel. They measure a distance of 2,4000km in total, the equivalent of the distance between Dubai and Cairo.
Essentials
The flights
Emirates and Etihad fly direct from the UAE to Geneva from Dh2,845 return, including taxes. The flight takes 6 hours.
The package
Clinique La Prairie offers a variety of programmes. A six-night Master Detox costs from 14,900 Swiss francs (Dh57,655), including all food, accommodation and a set schedule of medical consultations and spa treatments.
The specs
- Engine: 3.9-litre twin-turbo V8
- Power: 640hp
- Torque: 760nm
- On sale: 2026
- Price: Not announced yet
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Company%20profile
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EName%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20WallyGPT%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarted%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E2014%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFounders%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ESaeid%20and%20Sami%20Hejazi%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Dubai%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ESector%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EFinTech%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestment%20raised%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E%247.1%20million%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ENumber%20of%20staff%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%2020%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestment%20stage%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EPre-seed%20round%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Know your Camel lingo
The bairaq is a competition for the best herd of 50 camels, named for the banner its winner takes home
Namoos - a word of congratulations reserved for falconry competitions, camel races and camel pageants. It best translates as 'the pride of victory' - and for competitors, it is priceless
Asayel camels - sleek, short-haired hound-like racers
Majahim - chocolate-brown camels that can grow to weigh two tonnes. They were only valued for milk until camel pageantry took off in the 1990s
Millions Street - the thoroughfare where camels are led and where white 4x4s throng throughout the festival
MATCH INFO
Day 2 at the Gabba
Australia 312-1
Warner 151 not out, Burns 97, Labuschagne 55 not out
Pakistan 240
Shafiq 76, Starc 4-52
Key findings of Jenkins report
- Founder of the Muslim Brotherhood, Hassan al Banna, "accepted the political utility of violence"
- Views of key Muslim Brotherhood ideologue, Sayyid Qutb, have “consistently been understood” as permitting “the use of extreme violence in the pursuit of the perfect Islamic society” and “never been institutionally disowned” by the movement.
- Muslim Brotherhood at all levels has repeatedly defended Hamas attacks against Israel, including the use of suicide bombers and the killing of civilians.
- Laying out the report in the House of Commons, David Cameron told MPs: "The main findings of the review support the conclusion that membership of, association with, or influence by the Muslim Brotherhood should be considered as a possible indicator of extremism."
UAE central contracts
Full time contracts
Rohan Mustafa, Ahmed Raza, Mohammed Usman, Chirag Suri, Mohammed Boota, Sultan Ahmed, Zahoor Khan, Junaid Siddique, Waheed Ahmed, Zawar Farid
Part time contracts
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Diriyah%20project%20at%20a%20glance
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The specs
Engine: 3.8-litre twin-turbo flat-six
Power: 650hp at 6,750rpm
Torque: 800Nm from 2,500-4,000rpm
Transmission: 8-speed dual-clutch auto
Fuel consumption: 11.12L/100km
Price: From Dh796,600
On sale: now
