Not found since the green light from the Council of State for his expulsion at the end of August, the preacher was the subject of a European arrest warrant.
After a five-week run, the Islamist preacher Hassan Iquioussen, targeted since August 30 by a European arrest warrant, was arrested on Friday in Jemmapes (Belgium), where this activist adhering to the ideology of the Muslim Brotherhood knew he could count on friendly and ideological support. A
“I am delighted that Mr Iquioussen was arrested today by the Belgian services, whom I sincerely thank“, Gérald Darmanin told AFP on the sidelines of his trip to Cayenne in Guyana to participate in the Assises de la sécurité.
It is therefore confirmed that, as the Ministry of the Interior had quickly indicated, Hassan Iquioussen had reached Belgium after the Council of State had validated his expulsion to Morocco. It had been decided by Gérald Darmanin, because of ” a proselytizing discourse, interspersed with remarks inciting hatred and discrimination and carrying a vision of Islam contrary to the values of the Republic “.
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The arrest of the preacher proves that the French and Belgian police have not remained inactive in recent weeks, a source familiar with the matter confirming“ good police cooperation”between the two countries. It is true that Belgium is also confronted with the problem of the Muslim Brotherhood. In July 2021, a note from State Security, Belgian intelligence, described their objective as follows: “ The progressive Islamization of European society in all its components” via “social-political militancy, lobbying and entryism, led by an “elite vanguard” of educated Brotherhood militants. »
Police cooperation
It remains to be seen how the Iquioussen affair will end. According to a source familiar with the matter, the preacher could file appeals in Belgium. When the Belgian authorities hand him over to France, he will then be presented to an investigating judge in Valenciennes who is examining a case of “evasion of the execution of a deportation decision“. Justice had indeed been seized by the prefecture of the North after the departure on the run from Iquioussen.
Justice had indeed been seized by the prefecture of the North after the departure on the run from Iquioussen. The magistrate will then have two possibilities: to prosecute the preacher for the alleged facts, punishable by a prison sentence, which would then initiate legal proceedings by definition long and opening the way to legal remedies. Another option: the abandonment of the proceedings, which will have the effect of relaunching the administrative expulsion procedure.
With a new question: the laissez-passer issued by the Moroccan consulate in the North was “suspendedby Rabat. Diplomatic negotiations are already underway to open the road to Morocco again for Hassan Iquioussen.
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