Morocco’s refusal to accept the Moroccan imam Hassan Iquioussen on its soil has further blurred its relations with France. The Kingdom blames France, among other things, for the humiliation suffered by many Moroccans, including officials, when applying for a Schengen visa.
French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne said on Thursday that Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin was to discuss the imam’s expulsion with the Moroccan ambassador after Rabat revealed on Wednesday that he would not allow this deportation. In an interview with France Inter, Borne acknowledged the lack of consultation with Morocco on the issue, confirming that the expulsion of Iquioussen was “a unilateral decision by France”.
According to sources close to the Moroccan government, the withdrawal of consular authorization for the expulsion of the Moroccan imam who is accused of anti-Semitic remarks and a “systematic discourse on the inferiority of women”, is explained in largely by the French policy of reducing visas for Moroccans. A policy launched in 2021 by President Emmanuel Macron asked Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia to collaborate for the return of their nationals sentenced or in an irregular situation in France.
Hassan Iquioussen, born in France 58 years ago, does not have French nationality. On Tuesday, the Council of State endorsed the decision of the Minister of the Interior to expel him from French territory, after he obtained a suspension of the expulsion in early August by the Paris court of first instance. Since Tuesday, the Moroccan imam has been missing. The security forces who went to arrest him did not find him at his home or at any other address where he might be. He would have taken refuge in Belgium.
“Hassan Iquioussen is no longer on French territory today and if he was still there, the expulsion decision validated by the Council of State will be executed,” declared the French Prime Minister. This affair, which has clouded relations between France and Morocco, comes just days after Macron’s visit to Algeria on August 25, where the French president announced that the visa policy will be reviewed to allow entry of more Algerians into France.
