How France Enjoys Taking Revenge on Muslim Imams and Preachers

In a move that reflects a series of intimidation of Muslim activists and preachers in France by the far-right-backed government, the Minister of the Interior, Gerald Darmanan, announced on July 28, 2022, the imminent deportation of an imam of Moroccan origin.

Imam Hassan Iquioussen is very popular on social media and is known for his closeness to the Muslim Brotherhood, his advocacy activities among the Muslim community, and his interaction with public issues in the country.

 

Flimsy Excuses

The French minister said, in a tweet via Twitter, that "what justifies this deportation is that this preacher has for years been adopting a hate speech against France's values, which is contrary to the principles of secularism and equality between men and women and will be expelled from French soil."

Iquioussen did not delay in responding to the French Ministry of the Interior's decision, as he said through his Facebook account: "Today I am accused of making discriminatory and possibly violent statements, which I strongly reject," adding: "I trust the judiciary with the aim of annulling the deportation decision."

Iquioussen's lawyer, Lucie Simon, described the interior minister's decision as political opportunism in a disgusting atmosphere targeting a religious minority.

She continued, "In ignoring freedom of expression and the right to respect privacy and family life, the French Ministry of the Interior decided to target preachers and imams after targeting former Muslim cultural associations."

The lawyer criticized, in a tweet on her Twitter account, the minister's speed in writing his tweet regarding the news of her client's expulsion, even before the person concerned reached the order of expulsion from the judiciary and received a notification about it, saying: "What happened in it is a challenge to the law."

Civil and political activist in France Mr. Mohammed Tafraouti saw that "the justifications announced by Minister Darmanan for the deportation of Iquioussen are flimsy and have no logical basis."

In a statement to Al-Estiklal, Mr. Tafraouti stressed that "Iquioussen is a well-known figure, as he is one of the founders of the Union of Islamic Organizations in France, and his targeting by the Ministry of the Interior is not new but rather escalated today after Darmanan arrived at the ministry."

He explained that "contrary to the government's accusations, Iquioussen calls for respect for all French laws and for the defense of freedoms, including individual freedoms. He also encourages involvement in political life, which has made him subject to a great attack by the Salafis in France because of this matter."

He stated that Iquioussen confirmed that he spoke in one of the seminars about the Jews, indicating that he was referring specifically to the Zionist movement, expressing his apology and stressing that he is not hostile to Judaism but calls for its respect and respect for all religions and beliefs.

However, Mr. Tafraouti said, Iquioussen's statement was used to attack him, especially since France altogether forbids approaching Jews or Zionism because that is a massive red line.

On his part, the former deputy mayor of the French municipality of Athis-Mons, Mr. Omar el-Mourabet, explained that "Iquioussen is the son of France, born and raised in France, and he is a well-known figure among the Muslim community."

Contrary to the accusations of the Ministry of the Interior, Mr. el-Mourabet told Al-Estiklal, "Iquioussen is a man of moderate preaching, far from supporting terrorism or extremism or spreading hostility and hate."

Mr. el-Mourabet called on Interior Minister Darmanan to provide evidence on the accusations against Iquioussen.

 

Media Incitement

The French press, including Le Point, which is known for its hostility to Muslims and Islam, considered Iquioussen to adopt an extremist discourse, describing his words about the Zionist movement as a dangerous anti-Semitic slip.

The newspaper reported in an article published on July 28, 2022, that his talk about Muslims following Islamic law in their private and public lives is contrary to French values.

In the same context, Le Monde newspaper published an article on July 29, 2022, in which it referred to a Moroccan imam who is close to the Muslim Brotherhood accused of making hate speeches towards the values of the republic including secularism.

"Iquioussen is accused of inciting a form of separatism and of fueling conspiracy theories about Islamophobia," it said.

Le Monde indicated that "the Ministry of the Interior told AFP that the administrative committee for the expulsion of foreigners gave a positive opinion on his expulsion and that implementation will be taken in the next few hours."

As for Liberation newspaper, after putting the word fundamentalism in a broad clause, it said in an article on July 28, 2022, that "the Islamic preacher who made reactionary comments or incitement to hate was subject to a ministerial order of expulsion when he wanted to renew his residence permit."

In response to this incitement, Mr. Tafraouti said, "Targeting Iquioussen is not an individual or special case, but rather an old targeting, but its pace has accelerated recently, especially after the far-right's massive rise to Parliament and its arrival in the new government formed by President Emmanuel Macron."

He pointed out that "the growing hostile attitudes and policies of French citizens of foreign origin, or legal residents, aims to satisfy extremists in Parliament, given the government's need to support them in order to pass a set of legal projects."

Mr. Tafraouti criticized the French government's exploitation of the security concern, in this case, pointing out that these laws directly target Muslims in France, restrict their freedom, impose censorship on them, and try to exclude civil activists and influencers from among them, using the media and the judiciary to achieve this.

He stressed that "European fear of the Muslim community or citizens of Muslim origin is fueled by extremist right-wing associations and parties; the last presidential candidate, Eric Zemmour, was warning against it, speaking of replacing the French race with another."

But these calls, according to Mr. Tafraouti, will not have a significant impact on French Muslims, whose number is constantly increasing, as well as those who embrace Islam from French Europeans, as well as those who are elected to municipal and local councils and reach high positions in the state.

On July 23, 2021, the French National Assembly (Parliament) adopted the bill to strengthen respect for the principles of the Republic (widely known as the bill against separatist Islam)

The law faces criticism for targeting Muslims in France and imposing restrictions on all aspects of their lives.

The law also provides oversight of mosques and associations responsible for managing them and monitoring the funding of Muslim civil organizations.

It also imposes restrictions on the freedom of families to provide education for their children at home in countries where headscarves are prohibited in pre-university education institutions.

 

Personal Ambition

In turn, the former deputy mayor of Athis-Mons, Mr. Omar el-Mourabet, confirmed that "the far-right has become significantly stronger in France during the recent period, and evidence of this is the arrival of their leader, Marine Le Pen, to the second round of the presidency (April 2022)."

He continued: "This rise of Le Pen did not cause controversy or discussion in France, as if the possibility of an extremist political figure arriving at the Elysee is normal, and this is a testament to the extent to which far-right ideas have spread in French society."

Mr. el-Mourabet considered the Minister of the Interior's decision as a marketing blow to the minister himself, as he wanted to appear as a fighter against radical Islam, according to his claim.

He added, "But Darmanan and other politicians like him deliberately confuse terrorism with extremism and the preaching associations that have influence in France, especially those close to the Muslim Brotherhood."

"I think the Minister of the Interior is preparing himself for the upcoming presidential elections, and through these decisions, he wants to win over the far-right, and present himself as more right-wing and extremist than Le Pen, to achieve political goals," Mr. el-Mourabet said.

Mr. el-Mourabet explained that "stopping these tendencies or influencing them is affected by the size of the electoral and political participation of the Muslim community and of French Muslims in general, as this community, which makes up about 10 percent of the population, its political role is still very weak."

France is one of the largest European countries in terms of the size of the Muslim community, and until mid-2016, the number of Muslims in it was about 5.7 million, which constitutes 8.8 percent of the total population, according to observers.

Mr. el-Mourabet stressed that "the participation of the Muslim community in the elections will make them a political force in the country, able to influence the scene and, at the lowest levels, mitigate the manifestations of Islamophobia, which pay French political actors to win their approval or electoral votes, especially if they have an influential electoral bloc."