France judiciary issues arrest warrant against Morocco imam

A French judge has issued a European arrest warrant against French-born Moroccan Imam Hassan Iquioussen after a court ordered his expulsion to Morocco, French media reported on Friday.

Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin confirmed on Tuesday that France’s top administrative court gave the green light for the expulsion of Imam Iquioussen, who was accused of hate speech.

The minister posted on Twitter: “Hassan Iquioussen will be expelled from the national territory in a great victory for the republic,” citing a decision of the Council of State – the highest French administrative court.

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The arrest warrant has been issued against Iquioussen by an investigating judge in Valenciennes, in the north of the country, over claims of “evasion of the implementation of a deportation order.”

Imam Iquioussen, who may have left for Belgium, was sentenced over remarks allegedly deemed contrary to the republic’s values.

Sources familiar with the matter told AFP that if Iquioussen had remained in France, the reason for the arrest warrant would have been justified. But, the French Interior Minister has since affirmed that the imam was “obviously in Belgium”.

In this case, according to these same sources, Iquioussen is considered to have carried out the expulsion measure himself because the terms of expulsion are not fixed in the expulsion order.

On Thursday evening, the Belgian authorities claimed they were unaware of the issuance of a European arrest warrant, AFP reported.

A Belgian Ministry of Justice spokesperson told AFP that Iquioussen did not appear in police files as being wanted in Belgium.

“This European arrest warrant amazes us because if it exists, it would be based on an offence which, in our view, is not constituted, given that Hassan Iquioussen left French territory,” his lawyer, Lucie Simon, told AFP.

“Why search for him? Why do you want to bring him back?” Simon questioned.

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