Hassan Echoessen, a Moroccan imam, born in 1964 and lived in France, is accused of adopting "hate speech against the values ​​of France, anti-Semitism and discrimination against women", which made him face 3 years in prison on charges of evading arrest, and he was included in the wanted file "FPR" ( FPR).

Birth and upbringing

Hassan Equisin was born in Digne, in the suburbs of Valenciennes, France, in 1964.

Echoessen holds Moroccan citizenship, and has had a French residency since 1992, which expired in 2021, and France refused to renew it.

He is married and has 5 children and 15 grandchildren, all residing in France.

Echoessen is known for his "charming" personality, which helped him convince tens of thousands of young people of his approach through social networking sites, or even on the ground where he lives in the Lorches region in northern France.

Study and scientific training

He obtained a bachelor's degree in Arabic and a master's degree in history, after which he devoted himself to preaching and teaching Islam.

intellectual orientation

Echoessen believes that "Islam is the solution to confront the instability that the world is witnessing," as "the world is run by people who have no religion or law, and what happens in the world is due to the absence of Islam," and he insists that "Sharia must guide the behavior of believers in all aspects. their private and public life.

Accusations of inciting hatred

Hassan Ekwessen is an activist on social media, because of which he was accused of anti-Semitism after his statements in videos published in 2004, which angered the Representative Council of Jewish Institutions in France (CRIF).

Echoessen extended other accusations, such as encouraging discrimination against women by limiting her role to the role of the wife, mother and housewife in general, citing his saying in one of his published videos, "It is unfortunate that women today consider serving their husbands and children as punishment, while it is a blessing."

On July 28, 2022, the French Minister of the Interior, Gerald Darmanan, announced the decision to expel Hassan Echoessen, justifying this in his Twitter account that the imam "has been adopting for years a hate speech against the values ​​of France, and inconsistent with the principles of secularization and equality between men and women."

Echoessen is a regular member of the conferences of the Union of Islamic Organizations, whose name was changed to "Muslims of France", but what made him within the focus of government institutions is his published public speeches that affect a large group of young people.

One of the speeches for which he was accused was in 2004, in which he spoke of an "agreement between the Zionist movement and the Nazi regime to promote the settlement of Jews in Palestine."

A similar speech was repeated to him about a Jewish conspiracy in 2014, as the former leader of Al-Qaeda described Osama bin Laden as a "great fighter against the Americans" and as a "great defender of Islam."

Many signed a petition to defend Echoessen, protesting the expulsion decision issued by Darmanin against him, and 31 mosques issued a statement in northern France expressing their support for the preacher, stressing that he was the victim of a "clear error in assessment."

On August 4, 2022, the European Court of Human Rights announced that it had rejected a request to suspend the procedure for the expulsion of preacher Hassan Ekwesen to Morocco, who is accused of "adopting hate speech."

A day later, the Administrative Court announced the suspension of the decision to deport Echoessen, considering that his deportation "will affect his private and family life," which made the French government resort to submitting the case to the Council of State (the highest judicial institution in France), which agreed on August 30, 2022, to deport Echoessen. .

After the council's decision, the police raided the imam's house in Lorsch, near Valenciennes, in northern France, in order to arrest and deport him, but they did not find him, so it was rumored that he had fled outside the country.

Jobs and Achievements

  • He worked as an imam in the Federation of Islamic Organizations in France.

  • An activist on social media, he has more than 170,000 followers on YouTube.

  • He has a great advocacy role with young people.