Law Belgian justice considers that the conditions are not met for an extradition to France, but that the imam does not have the right to be in Belgium
Imam Hassan Iquioussen leaves the court of 039; appeal of the court of Mons with his lawyer Lucie Simon. — Kenzo TRIBOUILLARD/AFP
What will be the next step for Hassan Iquioussen? The Moroccan imam, exiled this summer in Belgium to evade an order deportation to France before being arrested. in the region of Mons, on September 30, is still at the heart of a politico-legal imbroglio. “The man lost his right to stay in France and had to return to his country of origin, Morocco. It was therefore placed in a closed return center with a view to his removal from the territory,” the Belgian State Secretary to; Asylum and migration, Nicole de Moor, in a press release.
“He gives no sign that he wants to return voluntarily. French authorities are still demanding the return of the person so that they can be sent to Morocco,” this Flemish Christian-Democrat official, specifying that Hassan Iquioussen has “not been authorized to stay on Belgian territory”. “We remain in contact with France to enable his removal,” she said. But on Tuesday, the Belgian justice has a second time refused; to hand over the imam to France under a European Arrest Warrant (EAW).
No extradition to France?
The Mons Court of Appeal confirmed the decision handed down at first instance, on October 21, by the Tournai court. The imam’s lawyers argued that the offense alleged by France (“evading execution of a deportation” measure’) does not exist in Belgian law, which which is a condition for an EAW to be executed. Nicole de Moor argues that Belgian justice also decided on Tuesday that Imam Iquioussen “can no longer be placed in pre-trial detention pending his extradition to the France”. “As a result, that person no longer has to wearing an electronic bracelet,” adds the Secretary of State.
At the end of July, the French Minister of Inté laughing Gérald Darmanin had announced the expulsion of this 58-year-old preacher, who is on file S (for state security) by the intelligence services. The arrest signed from the hand of the minister accuses him of “a spangled proselytizing speech; of words inciting to hate and discrimination and bearer of a vision of Islam contrary to the values of the Republic”.