“there is no urgency”, says his lawyer

Imam Hassan Iquioussen will not be deported immediately to Morocco. The administrative court of Paris announced, Friday, August 5, to suspend the expulsion procedure, ordered Thursday, July 28 by the Minister of the Interior. Gérald Darmanin says the 58-year-old preacher is keen “for years a hate speech against the values ​​of France”.

According to the judges, this expulsion was a serious and disproportionate attack on the private and family life of Hassan Iquioussen. His lawyer, Maître Lucie Simon, underlined it during the hearing on Thursday August 4: the preacher has Moroccan nationality, but his whole life is in France. Imam Hassan Iquioussen was born in the North, like his children and grandchildren. He does not know Morocco, except during a few vacations.

Maître Simon also recalled that the comments in question are old. Some even date from the 2000s. The preacher has never been convicted. “There is no urgency to expel Hassan Iquioussen, insisted his lawyer. She explains that she asked to suspend the procedure so that other judges could decide calmly. “This case must be judged outside the time of emotion, outside the media time”believes Master Simon.

“You have to take the time to analyze the evidence or the lack of evidence.”

Me Simon, lawyer for Hassan Iquioussen

at franceinfo

The Minister of the Interior has announced that he will appeal this decision to the Council of State. In a press release, Gérald Darmanin said to himself “decided to fight against those who make and disseminate anti-Semitic remarks that are contrary to equality between women and men”.

During the hearing, the representative of the Ministry of the Interior pointed out and questioned remarks dating from 2019 and concerning a place for women which would be “at home, to take care of their husband and children”. Although Imam Hassan Iquioussen condemns anti-Semitism or calls for a commitment to France in some of his videos, it is, according to her, a double discourse “typical of the Brotherhood movement”. She is referring here to the Muslim Brotherhood movement, which“infiltrate” in the public space with remarks which seem to conform, on the surface, to the values ​​of the Republic but which say, in reality, the opposite. The representative of the Ministry of the Interior sees “the breeding ground for terrorist actions”.

The imam was not present at the hearing. Hassan Iquioussen has been wanted since the start of the deportation procedure and, according to the ministry, has gone abroad.