Twenty-five Islamic groups from across Europe have written to the European Commission to condemn the French government over “Islamophobia” claims, including a controversial UK-based group.

The letter was addressed to European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen and asked her to take action against French president Emanuel Macron and his government, condemning Macron’s attempts to counter Islamist separatism in his country.

The signatories of the letter took aim at the values charter the Macron government has attempted to get French Islamic organisations to sign, often unsuccessfully, in recent months, claiming that the charter is a violation of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights, magazine Marianne reports.

Within the 56 points of the letter, the authors claim that the Macron government took advantage of the public beheading of teacher Samuel Paty, who was killed by a Chechen refugee last October after showing cartoons of the Islamic prophet Mohammed during a class on freedom of expression.

“The Coalition urges attention to the situation in France, where the French government has exploited the killing of Samuel Paty for its own racist, discriminative and Islamophobic agenda,” the letter states.