French Interior Minister Faces Defamation Trial Over Imam Expulsion Case

The defamation trial, brought by Imam Hassan Iquioussen against Gérald Darmanin, will open on Thursday before the Paris court. On October 21, his lawyers had sued the justice system for public defamation against their client. In their summons, they accuse the minister of having described Hassan Iquioussen as a "delinquent, a separatist and a fugitive", and of having stated that he had "things to reproach himself for" and had "evaded the court decision".

At the end of July 2022, 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", to Morocco. A measure that had been suspended by the Paris administrative court 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. Information that will later be confirmed. An 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 system refused the extradition request made by France, which prompted the prosecution to appeal.

In the wake of this, the imam of Lourches lost his right of residence in France and had to return to his country of origin, Morocco. In the absence of a response from Paris to the request for care from the Belgian authorities, Hassan Iquioussen, placed in a detention center given his removal from Belgian territory, was returned to Morocco.