Paris - (AFP) - French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanan announced today, Thursday, that his country will soon deport an imam in the north called Hassan Ekoissen, known for his closeness to the Muslim Brotherhood.

The minister explained in a tweet that what justifies this deportation is that "this preacher has been adopting hate speech for years against the values of France , which contradicts the principles of secularization and equality between men and women."

"He will be expelled from French territory," he added.

The Moroccan imam responded on his Facebook page, "I am accused today of making discriminatory and possibly violent statements, which I strongly reject. I trust the judiciary to cancel the expulsion decision."

The Islamic preacher is very active on social media, and has a YouTube channel with 169,000 followers, in addition to a Facebook page with 42,000 subscribers. Hassan Ekoissen (57 years) was accused in 2004 of making anti-Semitic statements by the Representative Council of Jewish Institutions in France, which filed a complaint against him with the Union of Islamic Organizations in France.

The imam resides in Lorches in northern France. According to information collected by the police in the area and seen by Agence France-Presse, he continued to preach "hate against the values of the republic, including secularism" and "equality between women and men" and "anti-Semitic theories".

He is also accused of contributing "conspiracy theories about Islamophobia".

On June 22, the regional committee for the expulsion of foreigners gave an opinion in favor of his deportation, the Interior Ministry told AFP, confirming information reported by the weekly "Le Point".

The same source added that the expulsion decision "will be taken in the coming hours."

The expulsion of this preacher, who is a father of five, was not possible before the anti-separatism law was passed in August 2021.

The imam was born in France, and he held French citizenship until it was withdrawn from him. Since then, he is of Moroccan nationality and has a residence permit.
And the French authorities decided to take action in his case and resort to the law of August 2021, after he applied last winter to renew his residency for ten years.