Moroccan imam Hassan Iquioussen, claimed by French justice for having evaded an expulsion order and arrested in Belgium a month ago, was released on Monday morning November 7 and placed under electronic surveillance by a Belgian judge. , according to information from BFMTV confirmed to
Le Figaro
by Attorney General Jean-Paul Lété.
Such a decision cannot be appealed in Belgium.
The imam challenges his surrender to France under a European arrest warrant (EAW).
The placement under an electronic bracelet, decided on October 27 by an examining magistrate from Tournai, requires him to reside in "
a specific place, determined by the order
" of release, had indicated a spokesperson for the prosecution.
According to BFMTV, the 58-year-old imam should now stay with a friend in Belgium.
"
Detention under bracelet was granted
", had simply reacted during the decision the Belgian lawyer of the suspect, Me Nicolas Cohen.
Hassan Iquioussen, arrested on September 30 in the Mons region, in French-speaking Belgium, was at the heart of a political and legal soap opera this summer in France.
At the end of July, the French Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin, announced the expulsion of this preacher from the North, on file S (for state security) by the intelligence services.
The decree accuses him of "
proselytizing speech interspersed with remarks inciting hatred and discrimination and carrying a vision of Islam contrary to the values of the Republic
".
The extradition in question on the Belgian side
But the imam 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.
According to his French lawyer, Me Lucie Simon, his client "
purely and simply respected French law by leaving France for Wallonia
".
The imam's defense contests the alleged offense of "
evading the execution of a deportation measure
" and ensures that it has no equivalent in Belgian law, which is one of the conditions of the execution of the arrest warrant.
The chamber of the council of the court of Tournai went in the same direction on October 21 and refused the extradition.
After the appeal of the prosecution, in favor of the surrender, the file must return in the coming days to the Mons Court of Appeal.
