Val-d'Oise: Former CCIF founder Samy Debah brought to justice - suspected of having recreated the dissolved collective under the name CCIE in Belgium
Samy Debah, an opposition municipal councilor in Garges-lès-Gonesse (Val-d'Oise) and former founder of the Collective Against Islamophobia in France (CCIF), was taken into police custody on September 3, 2025, in Cergy, along with three other people. All four are suspected of having continued the activities of the CCIF, dissolved by decree in 2020 after the assassination of Samuel Paty, in the form of a new collective based in Belgium, the CCIE (Collective Against Islamophobia in Europe).
The Pontoise prosecutor's office has upheld the offense of "participation in the maintenance or reconstitution of a dissolved group," punishable by three years' imprisonment and a €45,000 fine. The defendants, placed under judicial supervision, are due to appear in court on March 3, 2026. The case stems from a report submitted by former Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin. The ministry welcomes the judicial cooperation with Belgium, which has made it possible to establish that the CCIE had operated until September 3, 2025.
Lawyers dispute the accusations, arguing that the CCIF and the CCIE are two separate entities, with different leaders and missions. For them, the proceedings are primarily political. The Council of State upheld the dissolution of the CCIF in 2020, ruling that its self-dissolution was intended to avoid prosecution, despite the absence of direct incitement to terrorism in its publications.
Fdesouche
