Gérald Darmanin announced on Tuesday that Morocco had issued a "consular pass, 24 hours ago", to "expel manu militari" from France Hassan Iquioussen, a reputed preacher close to the Muslim Brotherhood, living in the North.
The Minister of the Interior was responding to a question from Deputy RN Sénastien Chenu in the National Assembly and took the opportunity to thank Morocco for issuing this pass, suggesting that the expulsion would be done quickly, as soon as he would have been arrested.
He also recalled that he had signed the expulsion order for the imam concerned, arguing that the latter was registered in the "RPF", the file of wanted persons.
"We summoned him to the police station and as soon as the police or the gendarmes have arrested Hassan Iquioussen, he will be expelled from the national territory without the possibility of return", he specified.
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Last Thursday, the minister announced the expulsion of this very active preacher on social networks, in particular on his YouTube channel followed by 169,000 people and his Facebook page with 42,000 subscribers.
Anti-Semitic remarks and conspiracy theories targeted
Born in France, in Denain, and living near Valenciennes, Hassan Iquioussen, 57, had decided when he came of age, according to Gérald Darmanin, not to choose French nationality.
He has since been of Moroccan nationality.
The Minister recalled the reasons for his expulsion, namely anti-Semitic remarks, conspiratorial theses and against equality between women and men as well as for having qualified as “pseudo-attacks” the attacks which occurred in 2015 in France.
Last week, Hassan Iquioussen's lawyer, Ms. Lucie Simon, told AFP that she was considering an interim order before the Paris administrative court and a referral to the European Court of Human Rights.
The expulsion of Hassan Iquioussen, father of five adult children, was not possible before the law against separatism promulgated in August 2021 led to numerous debates on social networks.
David Guiraud, deputy for the 8th district of the North (Nupes), condemned the decision of the Minister of the Interior in a press release on Twitter.
