Toulouse imam Mohamed Tataïat will have to stay in Algeria. The Paris administrative court on Tuesday rejected the appeal filed by his lawyers after his expulsion to Algeria on Friday. It followed his final conviction for a sermon, delivered in 2017 in the mosque in the Empalot district and containing hateful remarks towards Jews.
In its order, the Paris court considers “that the remarks he made constitute an explicit and deliberate provocation to discrimination, hatred and violence against a group of people – in this case, the Jews –, and have taken on particular resonance and gravity since the attack of October 7, 2023 carried out by Hamas against Israel. He joins the arguments of the Ministry of the Interior which argued that the expulsion responded to “a compelling interest in preserving public order and social order”.
Misunderstanding of the Muslim community
Friday evening, by formalizing the expulsion on hours an imam from Toulouse, preacher of hatred and condemned by the courts.”
Once again, the immigration law allows us to expel to his country of origin, in less than 24 hours, an “imam” from Toulouse, a preacher of hatred and convicted by the courts. The protection of France and the French is my priority. https://t.co/WNC7LSz0tt
— Gérald DARMANIN (@GDarmanin) April 19, 2024
The expulsion of Mohamed Tataïat was denounced by his lawyers as hasty and not taking into account his exemplary behavior since the criticized sermon. In a press release, the Muslim Coordination of the Toulouse metropolitan area expressed “its incomprehension and amazement at this decision”.
Arriving in France in 1985, the imam moved to Toulouse two years later to work at the mosque in the Empalot district.