What will be the next step for Hassan Iquioussen? The Moroccan imam, exiled this summer in Belgium to escape an expulsion order in France before being arrested in the Mons region on September 30, is still at the heart of a political and legal imbroglio. “The man lost his right of residence in France and had to return to his country of origin, Morocco. He was therefore placed in a closed return center with a view to his removal from the territory, ”said the Belgian Secretary of State for Asylum and Migration, Nicole de Moor, in a press release.
“He gives no sign that he wishes to return voluntarily. The French authorities are still demanding the return of the person in order to be able to send him to Morocco”, added this Flemish Christian-Democrat official, specifying that Hassan Iquioussen does not have “authorization to stay on Belgian territory”. “We remain in contact with France to allow his removal,” she said. But on Tuesday, Belgian justice refused for a second time to hand over the imam to France under a European arrest warrant (MAE).
No extradition to France?
The Mons Court of Appeal confirmed the decision rendered at first instance on October 21 by the Tournai court. The imam’s lawyers argued that the offense charged by France (“evading execution of a deportation measure”) does not exist in Belgian law, which is a condition for a MAE to be able to be executed. Nicole de Moor argues that Belgian justice also decided on Tuesday that Imam Iquioussen “can no longer be placed in pre-trial detention pending his extradition to France”. “As a result, this person no longer has to wear an electronic bracelet,” adds the Secretary of State.
At the end of July, the French Minister of the Interior Gérald Darmanin announced the expulsion of this 58-year-old preacher, on file S (for state security) by the intelligence services. The decree signed by the minister’s hand reproaches him for “a proselytizing speech interspersed with remarks inciting hatred and discrimination and carrying a vision of Islam contrary to the values of the Republic”.