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FRANCE EXPELS 'RADICAL' TUNISIAN IMAM MAHJOUB MAHJOUBI OVER FLAG COMMENTS

 * By Lou Newton
 * BBC News

32 minutes ago

Image source, Shutterstock

Image caption,

Mahjoub Mahjoubi was an imam in the small southern town of Bagnols-sur-Cèze

France has expelled a "radical" imam who made "unacceptable remarks" about the
country's flag, Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin has said.

Mahjoub Mahjoubi appeared to call the French flag "satanic" in a video that went
viral online earlier this week.

Mr Darmanin said France's immigration reforms had enabled the swift deportation
of the imam.

But the imam denies any wrongdoing and said he had not meant to be
disrespectful.

Advertisement


Mahjoub Mahjoubi, who hails from Tunisia but came to France 38 years ago, was an
imam at the Ettaouba mosque in the small town of Bagnols-sur-Cèze, in the south
of France.

He was arrested earlier this week after a video circulated online showing him
describing a "tricolour flag" as "satanic" and saying it has "no value with
Allah".

Although he did not refer to a specific flag, many of the comments under the
video assumed he meant the French flag.

The imam said later he was sorry if he had caused any offence, arguing that his
remarks about the flag were a "slip of the tongue".

On Thursday, Mr Darmanin wrote on X that he had asked for an expulsion order to
be issued for Mahjoub Mahjoubi, and praised tough new immigration laws that
makes it easier for France to deport foreign residents.

"Without the immigration law, this would not have been possible. Firmness is the
rule", the interior minister wrote.

French media published some of the expulsion order, which said the imam had
promoted a "retrograde, intolerant, and violent image of Islam, likely to
encourage behaviour contrary to the values of the Republic".

It said his teachings encouraged discrimination against women, "tensions with
the Jewish community" and "jihadist radicalisation". According to the order, he
had also referred to Jewish people as "the enemy".

He was expelled "less than 12 hours after his arrest", Mr Darmanin said in
another post, adding that the new laws "makes France stronger".

"We won't let anything go," he warned.

France's immigration reforms have reduced protections for foreign residents and
made it easier for them to be deported if they get a criminal conviction or are
deemed to be a "grave threat to public order".

French media reported that Mahjoub Mahjoubi had boarded a flight back to Tunisia
on Thursday evening.

His lawyer said they would appeal his deportation.


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