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Rabat – Lucie Simon, Imam Hassan Iquioussen’s lawyer, on Friday confirmed that her client left the French territory in compliance with the ministerial expulsion decision without specifying his whereabouts.
In an interview with BFM TV, Simon decried the “political show” carried out by France’s Minister of Interior Gerald Darmanin.
Denouncing the ongoing “man hunt” for the French-Moroccan imam, Simon said that minister Darmanin “does not want my client to respect the ministerial decision. He wants it to do so in front of the camera.”
She added, “What the minister of interior is looking for is to make a buzz.”
The lawyer went on to say that Darmanin’s decision to share the expulsion notification via a tweet instead of directly informing the person concerned reflects the minister’s intention to create “a number one public enemy to serve a political agenda, a legislative agenda.”
Earlier this summer, imam Iquioussen received a notification of a procedure of expulsion while applying for the renewal of his residence permit in the Hauts-de-France prefecture. The measure, initiated by the Ministry of the Interior and supported by the prosecutor and the prefect of Hauts-de-France, called for the deportation of the imam to Morocco, accusing him of promoting hate speech.
On August 30, France’s Council of State, the country’s highest administrative court, approved the expulsion of Moroccan Imam Hassan Iquioussen, after Darmanin appealed the Administrative Court of Paris’ ruling which had suspended the imam’s expulsion.
Read Also: French Mayor Says Iquioussen Should Have Been Deported Earlier
Darmanin accused the Muslim preacher of delivering “a proselytizing speech interspersed with incitements of hatred and discrimination.”
Celebrating the Council of State’s decision to expel the imam, the French minister of interior said in a tweet: “It is a great victory for the Republic. He will be expelled from national territory.”
Following the council’s decision, France issued a European arrest warrant for the imam who is suspected to be taking refuge in Belgium.
While France plans to deport the imam to Morocco once arrested, a letter from Morocco’s consular services to the French authorities indicated that the consular pass for Iquioussen’s expulsion to the North African country is no longer valid, due to the decision Paris Administrative Court’s earlier suspension of the request to expel the imam.
A source close to the French minister of interior told Europe 1 radio: “It would be incomprehensible if this permit is abolished, which has no other function than to formalize Morocco’s recognition of Hassan Iquioussen’s nationality. How can there be a recognition of the nationality of a citizen one day, and then withdrawal of this recognition the next day?”
While details about Iquioussen’s whereabouts remain unknown, his lawyer says that the imam’s family remains under surveillance by the French state.
Many NGOs have criticized France’s tackling of the case, including Perspectives Muslimanes, a French association that has called for a gathering at the Place de la Republique in Paris to say “no to the expulsion of Hassan Iquioussen [and] no to institutional islamophobia.” The gathering is scheduled for Saturday, September 9, at 3 p.m. (GMT+2).
