Imam arrested in our country will not be extradited to France after all | Interior

The indictment chamber of Mons decided today not to extradite the Moroccan imam Hassan Iquioussen to France. A European arrest warrant has been issued against the man at the request of France.

France had ordered his expulsion to Morocco, after which Iquioussen fled. Our southern neighbors therefore issued a European arrest warrant against him. Finally, Iquioussen was arrested on September 30 in the Bergen region. He was placed under electronic surveillance at the end of October.

The indictment chamber has now rejected the extradition request and thus confirms the decision of the Court of Tournai on 21 October. The chamber “is of the opinion that the facts underlying the European arrest warrant of 31 August 2022 do not infringe Belgian law,” said Deputy Attorney General François Demoulin.

Muslim Brotherhood

The 58-year-old imam was born in France, but has Moroccan nationality. Iquioussen is said to be close to the Muslim Brotherhood and, according to court documents, has spoken out against the lay state, incited “a kind of separatism”, “fostered conspiracies about Islamophobia” and “developed anti-Semitic theories”.

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