December 11, 2002	Wednesday	Shawwal 6, 1423

PARIS, Dec 10: French police said they arrested three alleged Al Qaeda members, including an imam, during a raid on Monday in the Essonne department, south of Paris.

All three men are considered to be confederates of Djamel Beghal, the Franco-Algerian terrorist who is accused of having prepared an attack against the United States embassy in Paris.

Of the three men, arrested at Grigny and Corbeil-Essonnes, police said that their biggest catch is Imam Abdallah el-Hariri, who holds dual Egyptian and Italian citizenship and who had been under their surveillance ever since he arrived in France two years ago.

They said that Imam el-Hariri had already been known to maintain regular contact with Kamel Daoudi, a high-level member of the Al Qaeda cell headed by Djamel Beghal, who regularly took part in religious services officiated by Imam el-Hariri.

MAYOR CONDEMNED FOR ANTI-ISLAMIC ATTITUDE: Manuel Valls, the mayor of Evry, which is located in the Essonne department, has been condemned by the Comite francais de l’alimentation ethique (CFAE) — the organization made up of representatives of the Islamic and Jewish communities — for having criticized a local grocer for refusing to sell pork and alcoholic beverages to local consumers.

Late on Monday, Mr Valls, who was an adviser to Socialist Prime Minister Lionel Jospin, condemned the decision by a local franchisee of the Franprix national supermarket chain, to henceforth specialize in products for the local Islamic community in the Quartier des Pyramides locality at Evry, and notably to ban all sales of alcohol and pork-related products in his store.

Reacting to the announcement of the decision, Mr Valls let it be known that he wouldn’t stand for the practice, telling the local Franprix manager that “we are in a republic, and that your decision goes against the idea of secularity so important to our country. If we let you do this, you’ll turn your sector into a ghetto.”