French Interior Minister Prepares List of Imams to Expel from France

French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said during an interview with BFMTV that there are “other imams like Iquioussen,” adding that he is preparing a list of “preachers, presidents or agitators of associations” who could be expelled from France.

Rabat – French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said during an interview with BFMTV that there are “other imams like Iquioussen,” adding that he is preparing a list of “preachers, presidents or agitators of associations” who could be expelled from France.

The list includes a “little less than a hundred people,” Darmanin said during the interview, underlining that terrorism continues to be one of his ministry’s foremost priorities.

French media outlet Mediapart has reported that behind the scenes, administrative operations are underway to target figures close to the French Muslim Brotherhood and the former Union of Islamic Organizations in France, naming Tunisian imam Ahmed Jaballah as one of the primary targets.

The French newspaper cited seemingly perpetual postponements of residence permit renewals for the imams in question as a sign that the Interior Ministry is likely preparing to have the imams arrested and deported from France.

Darmanin’s ministry had issued an expulsion order against the French-Moroccan imam Hassan Iquioussen in July, citing his “anti-semitic” rhetoric and promotion of “a vision of Islam contradicting the values of the Republic.”

Although the decision was initially blocked by the Administrative Court of Paris, France’s Council of State, the country’s highest court, gave permission to expel the French-Moroccan preacher on August 30.

But French authorities were not able to locate the imam to enforce the expulsion, leading the country to issue a European arrest warrant against him.

Iquioussen’s lawyer, Lucie Simon, said the imam left French territory in compliance with the order, but he refused to specify his whereabouts and denounced Darmanin’s “political show” of targeting an Imam he said poses no security threats to France..

Meanwhile, others such as Mayor of the 7th arrondissement of Paris Rachida Dati said the expulsion order was overdue since Iquioussen’s controversial remarks date back years.