“Judges must keep a cool head,” assures the lawyer of imam Hassan Iquioussen, whose expulsion order is being examined by the administrative court

The expulsion order taken in July 2022 by the Ministry of the Interior against imam Hassan Iquioussen is examined on Monday by the judges of the Paris administrative court.

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France Info – Théo Metton-Regimbeau

Radio France

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Moroccan imam Hassan Iquioussen in Mons (Belgium), November 10, 2022. (KENZO TRIBOUILLARD / AFP)

Will he be able to return to France? The Paris administrative court examines, Monday February 26, the expulsion order against imam Hassan Iquioussen. He was taken against him by the Ministry of the Interior in July 2022.

The imam from the north of France was accused, at the time, by Gérald Darmanin of making anti-Semitic and misogynistic remarks in videos. The preacher is reputed to be close to the Muslim Brotherhood and listed as S by the DGSI. He ended up fleeing France to Belgium and was then returned to Morocco by the Belgian authorities. The administrative court therefore addresses the merits of the case.

“A man’s thinking is evolutionary”

“These are not calls for violence” Hassan Iquioussen’s lawyer said in the summer of 2022 regarding the imam’s comments. Maître Lucie Simon intends this time to provide proof, she says, to counter the arguments of the Ministry of the Interior: “What we did was retake the entire videos to prove that they were most of the time truncated by the Ministry of the Interior and therefore that they were made to say things that they did not say.”

“Judges must keep a cool head and judge according to the law,” also says the imam’s lawyer who believes that Hassan Iquioussen does not represent any danger: “A man’s thinking is evolutionary. Hassan Iquioussen does not represent an extremely serious threat to the public security of France.”

The objective, for the lawyer, is for the Paris administrative court to cancel the expulsion order, so that the imam can return to France. And with conditions, if they are necessary, according to Maître Lucie Simon: “Obviously he wants to return to France and if this means that he no longer exposes himself on social networks, he will do so. His place is with his family and what he considers to be exile cannot last.” The imam will not be able to follow the hearing since he is in Morocco and the court refused, according to his lawyer, for him to speak by videoconference.


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