Imam Hassan Iquioussen—prosecuted by the French justice system for his radical statements—had fled to Belgium at the end of August 2022. Belgium has just refused his extradition to France.
At the end of July, this extremist preacher, ‘fiché S’ (i.e., registered by the French intelligence service for Islamist radicalization), had been the subject of an expulsion order at the request of the minister of the interior Gérald Darmanin for repeatedly “inciting hatred and discrimination and conveying a vision of Islam that is contrary to the values of the Republic”—for polemical remarks that were notably anti-Semitic and misogynistic.
But he managed to flee from the French authorities and found refuge on the northern side of the border in Belgium. While in Belgium, Iquioussen challenged his deportation order in court, which was initially annulled by the French administrative court, but then later validated by the Council of State.
According to his lawyer, the imam did not flee, but simply “respected French law” by “leaving France for Wallonia.” The paradox of this case is indeed that the French government is looking for a man who is a refugee abroad, so as to enforce a sentence of expulsion against him.
The imam has settled in the region of the city of Mons, not far from the border. The French justice requested the execution of the European arrest warrant, issued against him on August 31st, 2022. Iquioussen was arrested in Belgium six weeks ago and placed under house arrest with electronic surveillance. But he challenged the arrest warrant, arguing that the conditions for its application were not met.
The Belgian justice has just given him reason. According to the latest opinion issued by the Court of Appeal of Mons, the facts underlying the European arrest warrant do not constitute an offence under Belgian law, and extradition is therefore not justified.
Today, however, despite the failure of the extradition procedure, Belgium does not intend to keep Iquioussen on its soil. He has just received a three-year ban on his stay in Belgium from the Belgian police, so he could return to France, his last place of residence. France does not want to hear about it. Iquioussen has ten days to lodge an appeal against the ban on his stay in Belgium, and to remain there in spite of everything.Gérald Darmanin’s policy is once again thwarted, this time by the will of a European country, Belgium, which is known to have sheltered Islamists on numerous occasions, extending their propaganda and terrorist activities to France.
