The urgent applications judge of the Conseil d'État rules not to suspend the deportation of Hassan Iquioussen

Décision de justice
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Following an appeal from the Ministry of the Interior and Overseas France against the ruling of the urgent applications judge of the administrative court of Paris suspending the deportation of Mr Iquioussen to Morocco, the urgent applications judge of the Conseil d’Etat found that his anti-Semitic statements, made over several years in a number of widely broadcast talks, and his views on the inferiority of women and their submission to men, constituted acts of explicit and deliberate incitement to discrimination or hatred, justifying the decision to deport him. The judge further found that the decision did not infringe the rights of Mr Iquioussen to a private and family life in a serious or manifestly illegal way. On these grounds, the urgent applications judge of the Conseil d'État annulled the decision of the urgent applications judge of the administrative court of Paris and dismissed the petition for the suspension of the deportation presented by Mr Iquioussen.

On 29 July 2022, the Ministry of the Interior and Overseas France decided to deport Mr Hassan Iquioussen from France by withdrawing his residence permit, and identified Morocco as the country of destination. The enforcement of these decisions was suspended by the urgent applications judge of the administrative court of Paris. The Ministry of the Interior and Overseas France lodged an appeal against the decision before the urgent applications judge of the Conseil d'État.

However, like the administrative court of Paris, the appeal judge found that the evidence submitted showed that Mr Iquioussen systematically made statements on the inferiority of women, theorised their submission to men, and implied that women could not enjoy the same liberties and rights as men, in videos that are still accessible online, the latest of which were made in 2021.

Like the administrative court of Paris, the Conseil d'État found that several of the arguments put forward by the Ministry to deport Mr Iquioussen, particularly his denial of the reality of terrorist attacks and rejection of the laws of the Republic in favour of Islamic law, did not, in view of the evidence submitted, justify the decision to deport him.

Furthermore, the judge found, unlike the urgent applications judge of the administrative court in this matter, that the evidence showed that Mr Iquioussen had, for several years and on the occasion of a number of talks and speeches broadcast to a wide audience on social media, made anti-Semitic comments for which he only “apologised” in 2004 and only condemned anti-Semitism in 2015 in reaction to the emotional response to his words, without explicitly refuting those words. Moreover, he made anti-Semitic statements once again after the “apologies” of 2004, and videos of his anti-Semitic statements remained online until recently; Mr Iquioussen making no attempt to put an end to their publication.

The urgent applications judge of the Conseil d'État found that such behaviour constituted explicit and deliberate incitement to discrimination or hatred against an identified individual or a group of individuals, justifying deportation under article L.631-3 of the French Code on the Entry and Residence of Foreign Nationals and Asylum Rights.

Lastly, in view of the fact Mr Iquioussen’s children are no longer minors and no longer dependent on him, and that his wife, a Moroccan national, is not unable to travel to Morocco to join him, if necessary, the Conseil d'État found that the decision to deport him was not disproportionate with regard to its intentions and did not constitute disproportionate interference with his right to lead a normal private and family life.

On these grounds, the urgent applications judge of the Conseil d'État annulled the decision of the urgent applications judge of the administrative court of Paris and dismissed the petition for suspension of the deportation made by Mr Iquioussen.

 

Read the decision n°466554