The case seemed simple at first: France wanted Hassan Iquioussen, a 58-year-old Moroccan imam under surveillance, so it could deport him to Morocco. And Belgium, where he had taken refuge, would then quickly hand him over on the basis of the European arrest warrant issued by Paris. Eight weeks later, the case has become much more complicated, and its outcome is still uncertain.
The imam's lawyers filed a request "as a matter of extreme urgency" with the Council for Alien Law Litigation, an independent administrative court in Brussels. On Monday, December 5, the council declared this appeal inadmissible. The objective of the appeal had been to prevent the expulsion of Mr. Iquioussen, but according to the council, he must be handed over to the French authorities. Mr. Iquioussen can appeal, but this would not suspend the deportation proceedings.
Previously, his lawyers had successfully pleaded before the Belgian courts that the extradition was illegal. They highlighted that European Union (and consequently Belgian) law does not provide for penal sanctions in the case of "evading the execution of a removal measure," which is the charge chosen by France in the European arrest warrant issued against the preacher of Moroccan origin, born in Denain, in the Nord department of France. He does not have French citizenship.
Arrested on September 30 near the city of Mons, where he had taken refuge after having fled (he said) from France on August 25, the imam had lodged an appeal against this warrant. The court in Tournai, then the court of appeal in Mons, ruled in his favor. And in early November, he left Tournai prison to be placed under house arrest, under electronic surveillance.
'Total collaboration'
In an attempt to circumvent this legal obstacle, the Belgian authorities, which had indicated from the outset their desire to expel Mr. Iquioussen, then proceeded with an administrative arrest. On November 16, the imam was placed in the "closed center" of Vottem (a detention facility in the province of Liège) in preparation for deportation. An order to leave the country had been issued the day before, hence the administrative appeal filed by his Belgian lawyer, Nicolas Cohen, with the council.
Following similar comments by Belgian Minister of Justice Vincent Van Quickenborne, Secretary of State for Asylum and Migration Nicole De Moor described the imam as a "preacher of hate" and stressed that, given that he was illegally staying in Belgium, he would be handed over to France as soon as possible. "The French authorities are still demanding his return so that he can be sent to Morocco," the office of the secretary of state said in a statement. The imam's lawyers described the decision as "absolutely scandalous."
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