French Court Rejects Imam’s Defamation Case Against Interior Minister Darmanin

Following the "exception of incompetence" raised by the public prosecutor’s office at a procedural hearing on February 16, the Paris judicial court ruled that the Court of Justice of the Republic is competent in this case. According to Gérald Darmanin’s lawyer, the disputed statements were made in the context of his duties as Minister of the Interior. The defense lawyers do not see it that way. They intend to appeal.

On October 21 last, the lawyers of the Moroccan imam had seized the justice for public defamation against their client. In their summons, they reproach the minister for having qualified Hassan Iquioussen as a "delinquent, separatist and fugitive", and for having affirmed that he had "things to reproach himself for" and had "evaded the judicial decision".