Gérald Darmanin announced at the end of July the expulsion of the preacher on file S, accusing him of “a speech carrying a vision of Islam contrary to the values of the Republic”.
Brussels
New twist in the case of Moroccan imam Hassan Iquioussen. Incarcerated in Belgium since his arrest on September 30, he has just obtained from a Belgian judge to be released and placed under electronic surveillance.
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The placement under electronic bracelet, decided Thursday morning by an examining magistrate of Tournai, obliges him to reside in “ a specific place (on the national territory, editor’s note)determined by order » of release, explains a spokesperson for the prosecution. For the investigating judge, the system of electronic surveillance is sufficient to prevent the risk of flight.
The 58-year-old imam therefore left Tournai prison during the day and should, according to BFMTV, stay with a friend, a Belgian resident.
A legal mess
After Belgian justice refused, on October 21, to hand over Iquioussen to the French authorities and thus execute the European arrest warrant issued by Paris, this new chapter only adds to the legal imbroglio of this case.
Read alsoArrest of Imam Hassan Iquioussen in Belgium: why his transfer to France looks uncertain
The saga begins in July, when the Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin, announces the expulsion of this preacher from the North, on file S (for state security) by the intelligence services “for 18 months”. The decree reproaches this close friend of the Muslim Brotherhood “a proselytizing discourse, interspersed with remarks inciting hatred and discrimination, and carrying a vision of Islam contrary to the values of the Republic »which he shares in particular with his 183,000 subscribers on YouTube.
But when the police wanted to inform him of his deportation to Morocco in July, the imam was nowhere to be found. The run will not have lasted. He was arrested in the region of Mons, in the south of Belgium, on September 30.
Public defamation
Hassan Iquioussen’s lawyers pleaded that the person concerned would not have a fair trial in France, mainly because of the declarations of Minister Darmanin on television sets and that there was no equivalent in Belgium of the offense of evading a deportation measure. Argument retained by the investigating judge of Tournai, who therefore considers that the European arrest warrant cannot be executed and therefore that the imam should not be returned to France.
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“ Neither the law nor the prosecuting authorities can be instrumentalized for political purposes, it was perhaps Belgium to remind us of this”, then rejoiced on Twitter the French lawyer of Iquioussen, Me Lucie Simon. In the process, the imam’s lawyers took legal action for public defamation against their client by Gérald Darmanin.
An uncertain fate
Despite this release, the case is far from closed. The prosecution appealed the decision not to respect the European arrest warrant. The case will be argued before the Indictment Chamber within ten days. Even if he remained in Belgium, the fate of the preacher remains uncertain.
Read alsoExpulsion of Hassan Iquioussen: who are the (rare) supporters of the fleeing imam?
Born in France, he had decided when he came of age not to opt for French nationality. But, since last year, he no longer has a residence permit in France, and has none in Belgium. And the office of the Belgian Minister of Justice stressed that he would be expelled, if necessary by “procedure for foreign hate preachers”.
SEE ALSO – Belgium: Imam Hassan Iquioussen “holds on”, reports his lawyer