Fleeing After Court Approves Deportation For 'Incitement To Hatred', This Man Is Wanted By French Police

Illustration of French police. (Wikimedia Commons/Ladislav Luppa)

JAKARTA - France's police on Wednesday searched for a hate convoy who fled after a high-ranking administration court gave Home Affairs Minister Gerald Darmanin the green light for his deportation to Morocco.

Officers believe Hassan Iquioussen fled to Belgium after Darmanin tweeted that he would be "expelled from national territory" in a "big win for the republic".

The case was brought to France's highest court after a Paris judge blocked the imam's deportation. The interior ministry ordered this in late July a "very deadly anti-Semitic convict" and a sermon calling for a woman's "subject" to men.

Iquioussen, 58, has tens of thousands of subscribers through YouTube and Facebook accounts from his home in northern France.

He was born in France, but holds Morocco's citizenship.

His lawyers managed to file a Paris court to block the order, saying it would create an "disproportionate loss" for "personal life and his family".

A interior ministry attorney last week told the State Council Iquioussen "has for years spread dangerous ideas that are nothing less than incitement to hatred, discrimination and violence".

"His da'wah speech is surrounded by statements that inciting hatred and discrimination, bringing about an Islamic vision that is contrary to Republican values," he said, as reported by The National News Aug. 31.

The defendant's lawyer replied that several statements including an anti-Semitic or misoginis speech had been around for more than 20 years, pointing out that he had never been sued for public statements.

"Yes, Iquioussen is a conservative. He has made a back-to-back statement about women's place in society," Simon said.

"But that is not a serious threat to public order," he said.

Meanwhile, representatives of the Ministry of Home Affairs retaliated, the priest said, "creating fertile land for separatism and even terrorism," insisting that he "tepat anti-Semitic".

Darmanin has warned he will try to change the law if the judge finds Iquioussen undeported.