Paris imam who denounced terrorism hiding after receiving death threats from radical Islamists

A moderate imam has been forced into hiding after receiving a deluge of death threats for advocating religious tolerance and denouncing Islamist terrorism in France.

Despite being placed under police protection with six armed officers accompanying him at all times, Hassen Chalghoumi, 48, says he has had to put his house in the Paris suburbs up for sale and to move his wife and five children to a Gulf state.

He never spends more than two nights in the same place while in France for fear of being attacked by extremists, he says.

Le Parisien newspaper said that concern for Mr Chalghoumi’s safety had increased after a Belgian Islamist pledged to pay €150,000 to anyone who killed him.

Source: The Times