The report highlights several alleged evidence, although links with the Islamist group are not always clear. However, the document seen by Politico and reported by several points of sale did not seem to include particularly sensitive information. Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau said in an interview with the Daily Le Parisien that several elements of the report would remain classified for security reasons.
Franck Frégosi, a political scientist specializing in Islam in France whose work was cited in the report itself, spoke to several media to denounce what he described as the “alarmist” tone of the document.
In an interview with France Inter, Frégosi argued that the document attributed the common behavior of the Muslim members of the community – as the choice to wear a scarf – following the influence of the Muslim Brotherhood.
Nadia Fadil, an associate professor of Katholieke Universiteit Leuven in Belgium, who is researching Islam in Europe, argued that the conclusions have gathered various groups of all the spectrum of Muslim civil society – a “lazy trope” comparable to all left movements, from communism to social democracy in Karl Marx.
The French Council of the Muslim Faith – an organization created by the Minister of the Interior of the time, Nicolas Sarkozy, who has long been the main interlocutor of the State for Muslim affairs until President Emmanuel Macron has broken the ties with it in 2023 – said that he was particularly concerned about the fact that the serious allegations granted against the labeled institutions like the Muslim Brother “Constant suspect” around French Muslim institutions.
Several of the groups appointed in the report as indicators of the Muslim Brotherhood or ideologically aligned have also rejected.
The forum of European Muslim and students organizations (FEMYSO), a umbrella organization of European Muslim students linked to the Islamist group in the report, published a statement rejecting “any attempt to associate (they) with political entities”.
The federation of French Muslims, described in the report as “the national branch of the Muslim Brotherhood in France”, described the accusations of “unpanded”.
