Moroccan imam Hassan Iquioussen was expelled this Friday January 13 to Morocco by Belgium, where he had been arrested on September 30 after his expulsion from France for “speech inciting hatred and discrimination”announced his French lawyer to AFP.
This preacher from the north of France, whose expulsion the Minister of the Interior Gérald Darmanin had announced at the end of July, was expelled to Casablanca after the issue Thursday of a pass by the Moroccan authorities, said Me Lucie Simon .
Belgian justice refuses to hand over Moroccan imam Hassan Iquioussen to France
“A great victory against separatism”
The Belgian Secretary of State for Asylum and Migration, Nicole de Moor, welcomed the “good cooperation” with France on this case, confirming the return of the person concerned to Morocco.
“We cannot allow an extremist to roam our territory. Anyone who does not have the right to be here must be sent back”commented Nicole de Moor, quoted in a press release.
“Gérald Darmanin was very involved with his counterparts on this subject. It is a great victory against separatism”for his part commented on the entourage of the French Minister of the Interior.
How the decision to expel Imam Hassan Iquioussen took a political turn
At the end of July, Gérald Darmanin announced the expulsion of Hassan Iquioussen, accusing him of “a proselytizing speech interspersed with remarks inciting hatred and discrimination and carrying a vision of Islam contrary to the values of the Republic”.
A judgment from the administrative court of Paris awaited
But the imam could not be found when the expulsion order had been definitively validated by the Council of State on August 31. He had fled to French-speaking Belgium where he was arrested in the Mons region on September 30.
Hassan Iquioussen was then placed in a closed center near Liège (east) in mid-November for illegal stay, subject to an order to leave Belgian territory after the failure of the European arrest warrant procedure launched by France .
His French lawyer Lucie Simon was surprised Friday evening by the “about-face” of Morocco, which had refused last summer to France the consular pass allowing the removal of the imam in his country of origin.
“I am surprised by the volte-face of the Moroccan authorities and I believe that Mr. Iquioussen’s life is in France”reacted Me Lucie Simon, stressing that the lawyers were not informed of the issuance of the consular document. “We are awaiting the judgment on the merits of the Administrative Court of Paris, if the (French) expulsion order is annulled, France will have to ensure his return”she added.
