Sarkozy fires advisor over Islam debate

France: French President Nicolas Sarkozy has sacked one of his Muslim advisors for his call on Muslims to quit the governing UMP party. Abderrahmane Dahmane, who served as Sarkozy's diversity advisor, is opposed to a planned UMP debate on Islam.

The debate - scheduled for next month - is on the compatibility of Islam with the rules of the secular French Republic.

Dahmane said Muslim members of the UMP should not renew their party membership unless the debate is cancelled, AFP reported Friday.

On Thursday, Dahmane compared the situation of French Muslims to that of Jews during World War II and said the debate had been planned by a "handful of neo-Nazis."

He also called UMP leader Jean-Francois Cope a "plague for Muslims."

Valerie Rosso Debord, one of the party's leaders, said Dahmane had been removed from his post for "outrageous comments" about Cope and the UMP and for making "odious comparisons" between the debate and racism in Europe in the 1930s and 1940s.

Dahmane, a former UMP official, was appointed to this post only in January. France has the largest Muslim population in Europe, but many are marginalized. In addition, a large number of French citizens say the Muslims are not integrating into the French society. In 2010, the French government passed a law banning Muslim women from wearing face-covering veils, such as niqabs or burqas, in public.

The law comes into effect in April 2011.

Abderrahmane Dahmane, who served as Sarkozy's diversity advisor, is opposed to a planned UMP debate on Islam.

The debate - scheduled for next month - is on the compatibility of Islam with the rules of the secular French Republic.

Dahmane said Muslim members of the UMP should not renew their party membership unless the debate is cancelled, AFP reported on Friday.

On Thursday, Dahmane compared the situation of French Muslims to that of Jews during World War II and said the debate had been planned by a "handful of neo-Nazis."

He also called UMP leader Jean-Francois Cope a "plague for Muslims."

Sunday, Presstv