French government spokesman Olivier Véran described Sunday as a "
little bump
" in the procedure the judgment of the Belgian court in Tournai on Friday, refusing that the Moroccan imam Hassan Iquioussen be extradited to France, where he is the subject of a procedure of 'expulsion.
“
I note that the Belgian prosecutor's office pleaded for the (European) arrest warrant to be respected and for the imam to be expelled to France.
The judgment decided otherwise and the prosecution is appealing this decision
, ”said Mr. Véran, interviewed by CNews-Europe1-Les Échos.
“
So we are in a very normal procedure, except that it has experienced a small bump in a decision
” of which “
we have not yet been informed of the reasons
”.
Following the appeal of the Belgian public prosecutor, the case must return within fifteen days to the indictment chamber of the court of appeal, according to the prosecution.
"
Imam Iquioussen is today in prison in Belgium, so in principle not in a mosque in France in the process of delivering dangerous sermons for respect for the rule of law and national cohesion
", observed Olivier Véran on Sunday. .
Read alsoExpulsion of Imam Iquioussen: the endless soap opera
Hassan Iquioussen was arrested on September 30 in French-speaking Belgium, under a European arrest warrant.
Two months before, the French Minister of the Interior Gérald Darmanin had announced the expulsion of this preacher from the North, on file S (for state security) by the intelligence services "
for eighteen months
", according to him.
But surprise for the French authorities: Imam Iquioussen could not be found when this decree, which he had challenged in court, had been definitively validated by the Council of State on August 31.
