Tunisian imam Mahjoub Mahjoubi assured that he would do
“everything to return to France”
on February 23, the day after his expulsion from the territory by the authorities.
“I will do everything to find my loved ones, to find my job, in the coming days or weeks
,” the Muslim preacher continued on BFMTV, who says he plans to take legal action to have this decision overturned.
“My place is not here
[in Tunisia, Editor’s note]
, even if it is my country.
Mine are on the other side of the shore of the Mediterranean
,” he insisted in this interview with our colleagues, insisting that he must return to France to his wife and his five children, all of French, to take care of one of them
“who has cancer”
.
“I only ask to be heard by the judges.
If I have to be sanctioned, I will accept the sanction... If it is fair.
I lived for forty years in this country, the country of human and citizen rights.
I will do everything to assert my rights.”
Appeal filed
The Minister of the Interior Gérald Darmanin announced, on February 22, that Mahjoub Mahjoubi, targeted by an investigation for advocating terrorism, had been arrested the same morning at his home in Bagnols sur Cèze (Gard), then transferred to a center of detention in the Paris region, with a view to his expulsion.
A few hours later, the tenant of Beauvau was delighted that this eviction had been completed, and that the Tunisian imam had been returned to his native Tunisia, less than 12 hours after his arrest.
In this announcement on X, Gérald Darmanin also praised the recent immigration law, "
without which such a rapid expulsion would not have been possible"
, and which
"makes France stronger"
.
“My expulsion was based on an arbitrary decision by the Minister of the Interior. Mr. Darmanin is trying to create buzz around the immigration law by using Mahjoub Mahjoubi,”
the imam, for his part, retorted to our AFP colleagues.
The expulsion order targeting him, which
Le Figaro
was able to consult, justifies it by its “
literal, retrograde, intolerant and violent conception of Islam, likely to encourage behavior contrary to the values of the Republic”
and also evokes
“discrimination against women, withdrawal into identity, tensions with the Jewish community and jihadist radicalization”
which punctuate his sermons.
“Perverted French society”
In addition to remarks fueling tensions between communities with reference to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the judgment also mentions
“hateful and discriminatory remarks”
made by the imam,
“towards non-Muslims and French society”.
In a sermon, the person concerned declared in particular:
"
We are going to have to shake up this society, this warlike and rotten society", suggesting
"that French society would be perverted, criticizing diversity and attacking public school, accused of providing lessons on human reproduction to children.”
Mahjoub Mahjoubi also gave a speech in which
“Western society is judged decadent”
and which
“repeatedly praises Sharia law, the only legitimate and just law in his eyes”.
Mahjoub Mahjoubi finally praises jihad in a sermon on January 2, the decree further details.
The imam thus deplores
“that the mosques no longer produce fighters as in the time of the prophet”
.
“Slip of the tongue”
The controversy has been growing since the Minister of the Interior assured that he wanted to expel the imam, following the video of a sermon broadcast on social networks where he describes the
“tricolor flag”
as a
“satanic flag”
which does not has
“no value with Allah”
.
Subsequently, the person concerned defended himself, citing a “slip of the tongue”.
He explained that, with these words, he actually wanted to denounce the rivalries between supporters of Maghreb countries during the recent African Cup of Nations (CAN) football.