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Rabat – France’s Minister of Interior, Gerald Darmanin, is not ready to let go of Hassan Iquioussen’s case despite a Paris administrative court’s decision last week to suspend the French-Moroccan imam’s expulsion from France.
In a new series of remarks on Monday, Darmanin accused the imam of radicalization, saying he has been in file “S” for 18 months.
File S or “Fiche S” in French is a term used by law enforcement in France to warn against individuals identified to be “a serious threat to national security.”
“The imam is radicalized and he makes anti-Semetic remarks,” Darmanin said on Monday, stressing that he is calmly awaiting the decision of the Council of State, the highest court in France for settling issues and cases involving public administration.
“But if it were ever to prove us wrong we will study with the parliamentarians the means of giving the Republic the strength to defend itself by modifying the law if [necessary],” he warned.
Darnanin failed to convince the French administrative court in Paris to approve the expulsion order against the imam.
On Friday last week the court determined that the expulsion of Hassan Iquioussen would cause a “disproportionate attack” on his private life and family.
But Darmanin is not over the case, in spite of the court’s ruling. Describing Iquioussen as “a peacher of hatred,” the French minister regretted the court’s decision and said he would appeal the case.
He argued that Iquioussen has no place in France, and vowed to fight against those who “make and disseminate comments of an anti-semitic nature and contrary to equality between men and women.”
Iquioussen’s lawyer, Lucie Simon, thanked the French judicial system for “keeping a cool head despite the media coverage of this case.”
The imam’s son, Sofiane Iquioussen, also expressed his satisfaction with the court’s ruling — saying that he and his family are “very happy with this decision.”
Hassan Iquioussen was born in France and has five children.
In addition to vowing to fight to the very end for the expulsion of Iquioussen, Darmanin appeared to rejoice in recalling that he has ordered the expulsion of 74 other people who “had made separatist speeches” since he became minister of interior.
