FRANCOIS LO PRESTI / AFP
Imam Hassan Iquioussen, here in 2004, had been wanted for several weeks.
JUSTICE – He had fled just a month ago. Moroccan Imam Hassan Iquioussen, subject to an arrest warrant European issued by French justice, was arrested this Friday, September 30 near Mons, Belgium, the Belgian Minister of Justice told AFP.
“I can confirm that he was arrested today by the police”, said the Minister, Vincent Van Quickenborne. The 58-year-old preacher is implicated in France for remarks deemed contrary to the values of the Republicanti-Semites, violent towards women and the LGBT community.
On August 30, justice had validated the expulsion of the imam. “She anti-Semitic remarks, made for several years at numerous widely publicized conferences, as well as his discourse on the inferiority of women and their submission to men constitute acts of explicit and deliberate provocation to discrimination or hatred justifying the deportation decision, had justified the Council of State (highest administrative court) in a press release.
The imam was born in France but does not have the nationality
But when arresting him at his home in Lourches (near Valenciennes) and deporting him to Morocco, the police realized that the imam, reputed to be close to the Muslim Brotherhood, had ran away. A European arrest warrant had been issued to find him.
Hassan Iquioussen, 58, was born in France and lives there regularly. He had decided at his majority not to choose French nationality, according to Gérald Darmanin. He claims to have given it up at the age of 17 under the influence of his father, and then to have tried in vain to recover it. He has five children and 15 grandchildren, all French.
After requesting this winter the renewal of his residence permit for ten years, he received notification on May 3 of a form of engagement for expulsion proceedings, according to his lawyer. The deportation order was signed on July 29.
The decision was suspended by the Administrative Court of Paris, which considered that his expulsion “would cause a disproportionate interference with his private and family life”. Gérald Darmanin, the Minister of the Interior, appealed to the Council of State, which agreed with him.
See also on the Huffpost: