France deports Turkish imams

The two imams, working in mosques in Paris and Mulhouse, were expelled after authorities found that they were spreading propaganda for the so-called Kaplan group, a Turkish radical Islamist group based in Germany, Anatolia news agency said on Thursday, quoting French Interior Ministry sources.

The group, founded by Cemalettin Kaplan, was outlawed in late 2001 in Germany.

One of the two imams was already sent back to Turkey on Jan. 6, Anatolia said. The other was already in Turkey when the French authorities issued the expulsion decision.