Woman Arrested for Threatening Worshippers at Mosque in Southern France
Repeat Offender Wielding Iron Rod Detained in Alès; Authorities Investigate Anti-Muslim Motive Amid Rising Islamophobia
Watan-Police arrested a woman who was carrying an iron rod and threatening worshippers at a mosque in the city of Alès (Gard region), according to BFMTV, citing the public prosecutor’s office. The woman was placed in custody on charges of “death threats motivated by religion.”
Around 6 p.m. on Monday, several worshippers contacted the police, reporting that a woman had climbed over the mosque’s fence and entered the inner courtyard.
She reportedly began striking a window with an iron rod while shouting death threats at those inside the mosque, repeatedly screaming, “I will kill you! I will kill you!”
Authorities quickly intervened and arrested the suspect. According to the prosecutor’s office, the woman had already been detained twice in recent weeks for similar acts, during which she also issued death threats against worshippers at the same mosque.
🇫🇷🕌 FLASH – « Je vais vous tuer, Je Vais vous tuer ! »
Une femme armée d’une barre de fer a menacé les fidèles de la mosquée d’Alès, dans le Gard, ce lundi 9 juin. Elle a escaladé la grille de la mosquée et a menacé les fidèles. Il s’agit de sa troisième interpellation pour… pic.twitter.com/sHMkKVd8Vx
— Citizen Média 🗞️ (@CitizenMediaFR) June 10, 2025
Each time, a psychiatric evaluation declared her criminally irresponsible. She will again undergo psychiatric assessment in relation to this latest incident.
Shamseddine Hafiz, the rector of the Grand Mosque of Paris, condemned the rise of “racist and Islamophobic rhetoric” which, he warned, leads to “extremely dangerous acts.” His remarks followed a recent racist murder in France in which a Tunisian man, Hichem El-Miraoui, was killed by his neighbor simply for being Tunisian—an act Hafiz described as “terrorism.”
Earlier, the Gard region also witnessed the brutal killing of young Aboubacar Sissè inside a mosque, where he was stabbed 40 to 50 times by an attacker who reportedly made anti-Muslim remarks.
