France top administrative court has given a go-ahead for an imam to be expelled to Morocco. The iman is accused of hate speech, according to Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin.
Hassan Iquioussen “will be expelled from the national territory” in “a great victory for the republic,” said Darmanin on Twitter. He cited a decision of the Council of State.
The case landed before the highest court after Paris judges blocked the imam’s deportation, which the interior ministry ordered in late July over “especially virulent anti-Semitic speech” and sermons calling for women’s “submission” to men.
Iquioussen (58) has presence on Youtube and Facebook through which he reaches tens of thousands of subscribers. He currently resides in northern France. He holds a Moroccan citizenship but was born in France.
His lawyers successfully applied to the Paris court for a block on the order, saying it would create “disproportionate harm” to his “private and family life”.
An interior ministry lawyer last week told the Council of State Iquioussen “has for years spread insidious ideas that are nothing less than incitement to hatred, to discrimination and to violence”.
But the preacher’s lawyer retorted that some of the remarks including anti-Semitic or misogynistic speech dated back more than 20 years, pointing out that he had never been prosecuted for his public statements.
(With inputs from agencies)
