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Rabat – Denmark has deported Said Mansour, convicted of incitement to terrorism and formerly a dual Moroccan-Danish citizen, to Morocco.
According to Danish media, Mansour arrived in Casablanca yesterday night, aboard Royal Air Maroc flight 222 from Copenhagen. Danish authorities handed him into Moroccan custody.
Danish Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen tweeted that he was “very satisfied” with Mansour’s deportation: “Said Mansour has been handed over to the Moroccan authorities. A final end to a pertinent effort to carry out the Danish Supreme Court’s ruling to deport him in 2016…. It sends a clear message that criminal foreigners, who so obviously act against the Danish values and promote terrorism, do not belong in Denmark.”
Said Mansour er netop overdraget til de marokkanske myndigheder. Et endeligt punktum for en ihærdig indsats for at gennemføre Højesterets udvisningsdom fra 2016. Jeg er meget tilfreds med et klart signal om, at kriminelle udlændinge, som fremmer terror, ikke hører til i DK #dkpol
— Lars Løkke Rasmussen (@larsloekke) January 4, 2019
Rasmussen had talked to Moroccan Minister of Foreign Affairs Nasser Bourita in December about Mansour’s deportation, according to Danish news outlet Horsens Folkeblad.
‘Justice has been served’
Danish immigration minister Inger Stojberg was in Morocco this week on a secret trip to make a deal with Morocco on the deportation.
In a statement today, Stojberg said, “Justice has been served.” Mansour, she said, was “one of the most fanatic Islamists who we have deported…. He was on the very top of our list.”
In an unprecedented 2015 ruling, a Danish court stripped Said Mansour of his Danish citizenship. The court had convicted Mansour of incitement to terrorism for Facebook posts praising Osama bin Laden and encouraging followers to join the al-Nusra Front, an al-Qaeda affiliate in Syria, according to Al Jazeera.
Read Also: Imlil Murders: Danish Ambassador Grateful for Morocco’s Support
The court sentenced Mansour to four years in prison. Mansour appealed the loss of his citizenship, arguing he would face torture in Morocco.
The Danish Supreme Court in 2016 ruled against Mansour, and the Danish government has since been trying to deport him.
Stojberg today asserted the deportation deal “is completely in order concerning the obligations we have to abide by the international human rights of Said Mansour.” The remarks imply Denmark received promises from Morocco that Mansour would not be physically harmed, tortured, or executed.
On December 17, 2018, Danish tourist Louisa Vesterager Jespersen was found murdered with a Norwegian tourist near Imlil, in Morocco’s Atlas Mountains. Morocco has arrested 23 suspects in the case and connected it to terrorism.
The Imlil murders may have expedited Denmark’s efforts to deport Said Mansour.
Mansour was the first Danish citizen to lose his citizenship and be deported.
In 2007, Mansour received a separate terror conviction and spent 3.5 years in prison in Denmark.
Born in Morocco, Mansour has lived in Denmark since 1983, earning citizenship in 1988. He has four children with a Danish ex-wife and grandchildren living in Denmark.
Morocco does not have an extradition agreement with Denmark. According to a Norwegian source, many Norwegian and Danish criminals come to Morocco to avoid extradition.
