The administrative court of Paris suspended this Friday August 5 the expulsion to Morocco of Imam Hassan Iquioussen in that it would cause a disproportionate attack on his private and family life, indicates his lawyer Lucie Simon on Twitter. “Far from the media sirens, the law“, she comments.
Gérald Darmanin announced last week the controversial expulsion of this imam practicing in France, reputed to be close to the Muslim Brotherhood and accused by the French authorities of calls for hatred and violence aimed in particular at the Jewish community.
For his part, the Minister of the Interior announced his desire to appeal this decision before the Council of State. “In view of this decision, the Minister of the Interior and Overseas Territories, determined to fight against those who make and disseminate comments of an anti-Semitic nature and contrary to equality between women and men, announces that he is appealing to the state Council“, writes the Ministry of the Interior in a press release.
According to the minister, this imam, close to the Muslim Brotherhood, “has for years held a hate speech against the values of France, contrary to our principles of secularism and equality between women and men”. The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), for its part, has rejected, Thursday August 4, a request for suspension of this measure of expulsion.
Gérald Darmanin is even “willing to go as far as legislative changes if the law is not in tune with the nature of the threat posed by foreign offenders”, in particular in the immigration bill wanted by the government, indicates the entourage of the minister to franceinfo. “He is really in a combative and determined logic towards people who create an atmosphere of separatism.”
The 59-year-old preacher was born in Denain (Nord) and is the father of five children and grandfather of fifteen grandchildren. He says he taught French, having applied twice for French nationality, in vain. He explains that he only knows Morocco, his country of origin, through short holidays.
Supporter of political Islam, Hassan Iquioussen, is very active on social networks. He now has more than 170,000 subscribers on his YouTube channel, and nearly 43,000 on Facebook. According to the ministerial expulsion order, the imam has been making video sermons since the 2000s, with some success since one of them has collected nearly 30 million views. Some of his videos advocate “not following the laws of Rpublic”, questioning the reality of the attacks committed by Daesh, showing sympathy for Osama bin Laden, opposing secularism. According to the decree issued by the Ministry of the Interior, Hassan Iquioussen therefore represents “a serious threat to public order”.