Moroccan imam Hassan Iquioussen was deported to Morocco on Friday from Belgium, where he had taken refuge at the end of the summer after his expulsion from France for “remarks inciting hatred and discrimination”. The information was announced Friday evening by Nicole de Moor, Belgian Secretary of State for Asylum and Migration, and the Imam’s French lawyer, Lucie Simon.
“We cannot allow an extremist to roam our territory. Anyone who does not have the right to be here must be sent back,” Ms. de Moor stressed, praising “the good cooperation” with France on this file.
Hassan Iquioussen, a preacher from northern France whose expulsion was announced by French Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin in late July, was sent back on a plane to Casablanca after the Moroccan consulate issued a laissez-passer on Thursday Liege.
In Paris, the Ministry of the Interior clarified that the French expulsion order “is worth a ban on returning” to European soil.
The imam is registered in the file of wanted persons shared in the Schengen system, “which makes it possible to prevent any entry into the European area”, it was specified from the same source.
“It’s a great victory against separatism,” commented those around Mr. Darmanin.
The 58-year-old imam, filed S (for state security) by the French intelligence services, had been at the heart of a political and legal imbroglio for six months.
Lucie Simon was surprised Friday evening by the “about-face” of Rabat, which had refused France last summer to issue such a pass.
“I am surprised by the flip-flop of the Moroccan authorities and I believe that Mr. Iquioussen’s life is in France,” reacted the lawyer, stressing that she had not been 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 canceled, France will have to ensure his return,” she added.
Disavowing the administrative court of Paris, which had urgently suspended the expulsion of the imam at the beginning of August, the Council of State had considered at the end of August that this decision to expel him to Morocco did not constitute “a serious and manifestly illegal to (his) private and family life.” What do you think of this article?
