Gérald Darmanin, the Minister of the Interior, obviously hoped for a quick decision in accordance with his wishes: according to him, it was appropriate for Belgian justice to hasten to hand over Hassan Iquioussen to the French authorities, “in execution of the European arrest warrant” issued against him. The 58-year-old Moroccan imam, targeted by a deportation order in France, was on the run and had been arrested on September 30 in Jemappes, near the city of Mons, in Belgium.
An investigating judge in Valenciennes (North) had issued a European warrant against him for “withdrawal from the execution of a deportation decision”. Friday, October 21, the council chamber of Tournai, a body responsible for examining the charges against a defendant, refused the execution of the warrant, giving reason to the person concerned and his lawyers, who disputed the reasons given by the France.
It seemed very likely on Friday that the prosecution would appeal the decision to the indictment chamber, a chamber of the court of appeal. Incarcerated in Tournai prison, Hassan Iquioussen remains currently detained and the comments of his Belgian and French lawyers, Me Nicolas Cohen and M.e Lucie Simon, were very cautious in the evening: the details of the judgment will not be known before Monday, October 24.
“Unincorporated” offense
In front of the council chamber, which sits behind closed doors, the defenders of the “preacher of the cities”, implicated in France for his “proselytizing speech (…) bearer of a vision of Islam contrary to the values of the Republic”have developed purely legal arguments to demonstrate what Me Simon called “absurdity” warrant issued by the French authorities. According to her, her client only respected the law by leaving France, a country which intended to force her to leave its territory. The offense with which he is charged is therefore not “not incorporated”.
“The European arrest warrant is a judicial procedure, not a political one, but France has hijacked it for political purposes”indicated, meanwhile, Me Cohen, also believing that the imam risked a trial “unfair” in France, taking into account “the extent of the controversy” surrounding his case.
The evasion of a deportation measure, punishable by a prison sentence in France, is not punishable by European law on foreigners or Belgian law, also pleaded the lawyer. This would therefore make impossible the principle of automaticity provided for by the rules of the European warrant, designed to speed up extradition procedures but on the condition that the offenses invoked by the requesting country are also punishable in the other.
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