The legal saga of Mohamed Toujgani, this imam who officiates at the Al Khalil mosque in Molenbeek – the largest mosque in the country – is close to the end. And the man of Moroccan nationality may well no longer have permission to stay on Belgian territory when he had lived there since 1983.
His appeal to the Aliens Litigation Council to contest his withdrawal of residence permit was deemed inadmissible. The decision was published on the website of the Aliens Litigation Council. A judgment was in any case published on August 2. The text does not mention Imam Toujgani, but the facts mentioned relate to his file.
No substantive decision
L n January 13, the then Secretary of State for Asylum and Migration, Sammy Mahdi (CD&V), announced having withdrawn the residence permit of the imam who can no longer access Belgian territory for a period of ten years. A decision taken in fact since October 2021, on the basis of information from State Security which mentioned “signs of a serious danger to national security”. “In the past, we have given radical preachers too much leeway. This man was probably the most influential preacher in Belgium“, advanced, in January, Sammy Mahdi, to justify his decision.
Mohamed Toujgani’s lawyer had lodged an appeal at the end of December. But the Litigation Council indicates in its arguments that the deadlines have been exceeded. Indeed, it must be filed within thirty days of the contested decision. As the file was sent to the applicant on October 13, 2021, the appeal should have been filed by November 12 at the latest. However, it was introduced on December 24, which is why the appeal is deemed inadmissible. The court therefore did not rule on the merits of the case.
Contacted on the possibility of an appeal in cassation, Georges-Henri Beauthier, Mohamed Toujgani’s lawyer, explains: “I must first discuss with my client. Since I was informed of all this by the press. I have not received this decision. So, yes, there is a judgment on the website of the Council for Alien Litigation and, presumably, it concerns my client. But I have not been officially notified. And the Foreigners Litigation Council did not accustom me to discovering their rulings through the press…“
Hassan Iquioussen in France
The fate of Imam Toujgani may therefore not yet be sealed. His story is reminiscent of that of Imam Hassan Iquioussen in France. Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin announced last week the forthcoming expulsion of this preacher born in France but of Moroccan nationality, accused of having made anti-Semitic, homophobic and “anti-women” remarks during sermons or conferences. , held almost 20 years ago for some.
This Friday, the administrative justice urgently suspended the expulsion to Morocco, considering that it would cause a “disproportionate attack” on his “private and family life”, a decision which the Ministry of the Interior immediately announced to appeal. .