Controversial French Imam Evades Deportation, Legal Experts Question Arrest Warrant

Since the validation by the Council of State of the opinion of his expulsion from French territory to Morocco, Hassan Iquioussen is subject to a European arrest warrant issued by the investigating judge of Valenciennes for "evasion of the execution of a removal decision". According to Serge Slama, professor of public law at the University of Grenoble-Alpes, the issuance of such a warrant requires the commission of an offense, but the aforementioned offense poses "two distinct problems" here, reports TF1.

The first: "if he really left for Belgium, he did not evade expulsion, but only the order of destination to Morocco," notes the professor of public law, adding that "if he is abroad, under French law, he is not in breach since he has executed the measure". Same tune from his colleague Thomas Herran, co-head of the Master’s in European and International Criminal Law at the University of Bordeaux. This offense "can only be retained for foreigners who would remain on French territory and refuse to leave it" while the imam has left French territory, and therefore "executed it on his own".

The second problem is the existence of "double criminalization". In other words, this offense must exist both in France and in Belgium. Otherwise, the arrest warrant cannot be executed. Belgian law "does not seem to punish as such the fact of not respecting an expulsion decision," specifies Thomas Herran. "In other words, the offense charged in France against Hassan Iquioussen would not be exactly the same as that incriminated in Belgium," concludes the lecturer. The offense charged against the Moroccan imam "is not founded," summarize the lawyers interviewed. Consequently, the European arrest warrant issued against Hassan Iquioussen has little chance of being executed.