French court upholds radical mosque's closure outside Paris

PARIS (AP) - A French high court has upheld the closure of a mosque outside of Paris because of evidence the Muslim place of worship had been infiltrated by radical Islamists.

In its first ruling regarding such a shutdown order, the Council of State says Thursday that the mosque in Lagny-sur-Marne, east of Paris, still represents a potentially "serious threat to public order and security."

The Interior Ministry says preachers with Salafist ideology have used the mosque to recruit fighters for the Islamic State group in Syria and Iraq, call for jihad and incite attacks in France and abroad.

The mosque's closure was carried out under France's state of emergency law that went into effect after the Nov. 13 attacks by mostly French and Belgian Islamic extremists that left 130 dead in Paris.