Family of Deported Imam Questioned in French Evasion Investigation

According to a source close to the case, the judicial police of Lille heard in free hearings on Thursday the wife of Hassan Iquioussen, as well as his son and the person who drove the Moroccan imam to Belgium, reports BFMTV. They are suspected of being accomplices in evading justice, that is, of having helped the imam to leave France while he was subject to a deportation procedure to Morocco.

Gérald Darmanin had ordered the expulsion from French territory of Hassan Iquioussen, accused of holding "for years a hateful discourse against the values of France" towards Morocco. A measure that had been suspended by the administrative court of Paris on August 5 on the grounds that it would constitute a "disproportionate interference" with his "private and family life." The case will be brought before the Council of State. The latter examined the appeal and endorsed the expulsion of the Moroccan imam.

Since then, Hassan Iquioussen, who is registered in the FPR, the file of wanted persons, was untraceable. He is said to have taken refuge in Belgium. This information will later be confirmed. A investigating judge in Valenciennes (Nord) will issue an arrest warrant against the Moroccan preacher for "evading the execution of a removal decision."

Arrested on September 30 in Mons, Belgium, Hassan Iquioussen was released and then placed under electronic surveillance. The Belgian justice has refused the extradition request made by France.