Tunisian imam Mahjoub Mahjoubi was recently expelled from France for alleged hate speech under an accelerated procedure made possible by the country's tough new immigration laws. In a crackdown on Islamist fundamentalism, France has ejected a string of foreign imams whose preaching has been deemed a threat.
An imam at the Attawba mosque in Bagnols-sur-Cèze, in the south of France, Mahjoubi was deported on 22 February in a decision that he said was politically motivated.
Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin ordered his expulsion after footage emerged of Mahjoubi appearing to preach hate and anti-France sentiment during a sermon in early February.
In an extract widely circulated on social media, Mahjoubi described the "tricolors" – a term often used to refer to the French flag – as "satanic" and "of no value with Allah".
The deportation order was also based on previous sermons during which Mahjoubi is alleged to have encouraged discrimination against women, hatred of Jews and the destruction of Western society.
Mahjoubi moved to France in 1986. While he has a residence permit, the 52-year-old does not hold French citizenship.
He was arrested on 22 February at his home on charges of "inciting terrorism". His permit and passport were removed, and he was put on a flight to Tunis that evening.
Mahjoubi told FranceInfo the decision was "arbitrary" and that he would challenge it through the courts and "do everything possible to return to France" to be with his wife, who is also Tunisian, and their five children.
Decision upheld
However on Monday the French judge examining the case upheld Mahjoubi's expulsion on the grounds that he had deliberately used discriminatory language and incited hatred towards women and Jews in his sermons.
The court ruled that the imam's remarks did not fall within France's "framework of values" and that they set Muslims against non-Muslims, incited hatred towards Jews and Israel, and advocated for jihad and Sharia law.
Mahjoubi's lawyer, Samir Hamroun, said he had called on the Council of State, France's highest court, to review the decision.
Denouncing an "unprecedented violation of rights" and an "unprecedented procedure in terms of swiftness", Hamroun said his client had been deprived of the opportunity to have his case heard before a judge.
Deportation 'urgent'
Mahjoubi's deportation was executed in less than 12 hours on the grounds of "absolute urgency".
In his decision, Darmanin said the imam's rhetoric could incite his followers to commit acts of violence at a time when there is a particularly high terrorist threat following the 7 October attacks by Hamas in Israel.
"It's a demonstration that the immigration law, without which such a speedy expulsion wouldn't have been possible, makes France stronger," he wrote in a social media post on 23 February.
Under the new legislation, French authorities can enter a suspect's home and withhold identity papers without the owner's permission.
"It allows the passport to be taken at home, immediately, and the person can be put on a plane immediately," lawyer Aurélie Desingly told FranceInfo.
But that's the only change.
Another lawyer, Stéphane Maugendre, told RFI the procedure of absolute urgency that allowed for such a swift deportation already existed before Darmanin's law.
Mahjoubi claims he's been used as a scapegoat for Darmanin to "create a buzz around the immigration law".
In an interview with French media, he said his reference to tricolor flags being satanic was a "slip of the tongue" and that he was referring to rivalries between football supporters of different Maghrebi nations during the recent Africa Cup of Nations.
"All these flags ... all these slogans in stadiums ... divide Muslims," he said. "The Maghrebi nation is tearing itself apart and these flags are satanic. They're dividing us; the devil is spreading discord among us."
Double discourse
Mahjoubi is a member of the Muslim Brotherhood – an Islamist fundamentalist movement founded in Egypt in 1928.
Researchers claim it "aims to establish an Islamic government and substitute the prevailing secular laws".
"The brotherhood is theocratic and cannot support democracy," says Florence Bergeaud-Blackler – an expert on Islamic extremism and author of a recent book on the Muslim Brotherhood that has earned her death threats.
Bergeaud-Blackler says imams preaching in France are obliged to hold a double discourse.
"One is aimed at their followers and another allows these religious figures to obtain positions of influence (in France)," she told RFI.
After a string of Islamist terror attacks, including the death of teacher Samuel Paty by a radicalised former pupil, French authorities are increasingly interested in what's happening within France's mosques.
A small number have been closed down. On Friday the mosque in Bagnols-sur-Cèze where Mahjoubi officiated lost its lease.
String of expulsions
Mahjoubi is just the latest imam to have been sent back to his country of origin for expressing views deemed contrary to French values.
In 2012, fellow Tunisian Mohamed Hammami was expelled for advocating violent jihad and anti-Semitism. Several others were expelled under the Socialist government of Francois Hollande.
Under President Emmanuel Macron's watch, Doudi Abdelhadi was deported to his native Algeria in 2018, Mmadi Ahamada to the Comoros in 2022 and Hassan Iquioussen to Morocco in 2023.
According to Interior Ministry figures, 44 people "deemed dangerous and linked to radical Islam" were expelled from France in 2023 – an increase of 26 percent on the previous year.
The French government sees deporting radical preachers as one way of combatting Islamist extremism, but it is also seeking to promote French-born, rather than foreign, imams.
In 2020, Macron said he wanted to end the process of welcoming imams on detachment from Muslim countries such as Turkey, Egypt and Maghrebian nations.
A law aimed at ending "detached imams" comes into force on 1 April.
