French Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin announced on Thursday the expulsion of Imam Hassan Iquioussen, known for his ties to the Muslim Brotherhood and for allegedly appealing to hatred, especially against the Jewish community.
On the social network Twitter, the minister said that the expulsion of the Islamic preacher is justified by the fact that Iquioussen “having maintained for years a hate speech against the values of France, contrary to our principles of secularism and equality between women and men”.
As a consequence, “will be expelled from French territory”Darmanin dictated.
The imam, very active on social networks and who has more than 169,000 followers on YouTube and another 42,000 followers on Facebook, has already reacted to the decision. deny any involvement in hate speech or discrimination.
Today, I am accused of making discriminatory and even violent comments, which I strongly reject. I trust the judicial system and my advisers to cancel this expulsion procedure, ”he said on the social network Facebook.
In 2004, Hassan Iquioussen had previously been accused of making anti-Semitic comments by the Crif (Representative Council of Jewish Institutions in France), which complained to the former UOIF (Union of Islamic Organizations in France), now Muslims of France.
Now 57, the imam lives in Lourches, in northern France, where he has continued to make speeches. “hateful to the values of the Republic, including secularism”a “equality between women and men” and to spread “antisemitic theses”according to the French prefecture in the north of the country.
The preacher is also associated with the promotion “a form of separatism” and to feed “Islamophobia conspiracy theories“.
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According to the Ministry of the Interior, the departmental commission for the expulsion of foreigners issued a looks favorable about his withdrawal and the order “will be issued in the next few hours”.
Despite being born in France, Iquioussen ceased to have French nationality when he reached the age of majority and began to identify himself as a Moroccan citizenwith residence permits.
French authorities took advantage of the law against separatismenacted in August 2021, to expel the imam when he applied to renew his ten-year residence permit, which was about to expire.
Source: Observadora
