The Secretary of State for Asylum and Migration, Sammy Mahdi, withdrew the residence permit of Mohamed Toujgani, senior imam of the Al Khalil mosque in Molenbeek, the largest in our country, last October, the VRT NWS website announced Thursday.
The Secretary of State made this decision on the basis of information from the security services “due to signs of a serious danger to national security“, he explained in a statement. An order to leave the country was served on the imam and he was informed that he was prohibited from entering the country for ten years. after Sammy Mahdi’s office, the normal appeal period expired, which Toujgani’s lawyer contests. According to VRT, the man has already left the territory.
As the Imam of the Great Al-Khalil Mosque, he was particularly influential in the Islamic community of Brussels. He had been living in Belgium since 1982 and had Moroccan nationality, said Sammy Mahdi.
“In the past, we have given too much leeway to radical preachers. This man was probably the most influential preacher in Belgium. With this decision, we are making a difference and giving a clear signal: we will not tolerate those who divide and threaten our national security“, he added.
The imam has been the subject of controversy for some time now. Despite the fact that he lived for several years in Belgium, he did not master either Dutch or French. Additionally, a video dating back to 2009 surfaced ten years later. He called there to burn the “oppressive Zionists“.