Abdelkader Bouziane, the imam of a mosque in the eastern city of Lyon, caused the uproar when he told the April issue of a local magazine, Lyon Mag, that he was polygamous, believed that “beating your wife is authorised by the Koran”, and expressed the hope that “the entire world becomes Muslim”.
Justice Minister Perben, speaking on state television, said justice officials “can and must do something” and added that other people had also vowed legal action.
A junior minister in charge of gender and professional equality, Nicole Ameline, said she was going to call together various associations tackling domestic violence “to examine what action is necessary”.
In January, an imam was given a suspended sentence in Spain for inciting violence against women in a 1997 book that gave detailed instructions to Muslim men on how to beat their wives.
