Epilogue for the soap opera Iquioussen? Moroccan imam Hassan Iquioussen was expelled Friday to Morocco by Belgium, where he was arrested on September 30 after his expulsion from France for “comments inciting hatred and discrimination”, announced his French lawyer.
This preacher from the north of France, born in France, whose interior minister Gérald Darmanin had announced the expulsion at the end of July, was expelled to Casablanca after the issue Thursday of a pass by the Moroccan authorities , said Me Lucie Simon.
In a decision handed down on December 16, the Belgian authorities had decided to bring back the imam of Lourches Hassan Iquioussen, accused of holding “for years a hate speech against the values of France” at the Moroccan border, “ so as not to prolong (his) detention unreasonably”. Belgium therefore succeeded (unlike France) in reaching an agreement with the Moroccan authorities to allow this expulsion.
The Belgian Secretary of State for Asylum and Migration, Nicole de Moor, welcomed “the good cooperation” with France on this file, 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 fired, ”commented Ms de Moor, quoted in a press release.
“It’s a great victory”, comments the entourage of Darmanin
“Gérald Darmanin was very involved with his counterparts on this subject. It is a great victory against separatism, ”commented the entourage of the French Minister of the Interior. At the end of July, Gérald Darmanin announced the expulsion of Mr. 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”. 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 France last summer the consular pass allowing the removal of the imam in his country of origin. . “I am surprised by the about-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. .
The regrets expressed by the former preacher on certain past remarks were therefore not enough to convince Belgium to leave him on its territory. But for those close to the imam, there is still hope of seeing Hassan Iquioussen return to France. “We are awaiting the judgment on the merits of the Administrative Court of Paris, if the (French) expulsion order was canceled, France will have to ensure its return”, specifies Me Lucie Simon.