Imam Hassan Iquioussen deported to Morocco by Belgium

Moroccan imam Hassan Iquioussen leaves after a hearing at the Court of Appeal in Mons, Belgium, on November 10, 2022. AFP - KENZO TRIBOUILLARD

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2 mins

This is the epilogue of a soap opera with multiple twists that began on August 30 with the imam's flight to Belgium.

Brussels officially announced this Friday, January 13 the departure for Morocco of Imam Hassan Iquioussen, "refugee" in the kingdom since August, after being targeted in France by a ministerial order of expulsion.

Arrested on September 30 by the Belgian police, he was placed this Friday on a plane to Morocco, officially announced the Belgian Secretary of State for Asylum and Migration, Nicole De Moor.

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With our correspondent in Brussels,

French Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin, who had accused Hassan Iquioussen of misogyny and anti-Semitism, is delighted with this epilogue.

But in reality, in this case, nothing happened as planned.

The Belgian police were able to place Hassan Iquioussen on the plane to Casablanca following the issuance of a laissez-passer by the Moroccan authorities.

The result of a direct negotiation between the two kingdoms.

It is precisely such a pass that Morocco decided to no longer grant to France last August.

Among the other oddities of this case is also the fact that France decided to issue a European arrest warrant to request the return of Hassan Iquioussen, when the initial goal was to see him leave French territory.

The French arrest warrant was also ultimately rejected by the Belgian courts, because it was for a reason that is not an offense in Belgium, "evading a removal measure".

But the imam's tribulations do not stop there, since after the order which freed him from provisional detention (November 15), he was placed the same day in a detention center, because of "stay illegal in Belgium.

The Belgian Secretary of State for Asylum and Migration had warned that Hassan Iquioussen was undesirable in the kingdom: “ 

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Hate preacher Iquioussen was sent back to Morocco today.

No place for foreign extremists in our country.

Thanks to @alexanderdecroo, @hadjalahbib, @AnneliesVl, @VincentVQ and the French authorities for the good cooperation.

— Nicole de Moor (@Nicole_demoor) January 13, 2023

►To re-read: Claimed by France, Imam Iquioussen remains in prison in Belgium

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