Beauvau criticises the lawyer of the imam of Pessac for not having wanted to indicate whether he was in possession of the passport of his client, who is accused of being “of Salafist obedience” and targeted by an expulsion procedure to Niger.
Le Figaro Bordeaux
This is yet another twist in the request for the expulsion of the imam of Pessac (Gironde), Abdouramane Ridouane, considered by the authorities to be “of Salafist obedience” and accused of making pro-Hamas speeches and distributing anti-Semitic publications. The Interior Ministry has issued reports against the lawyer of the Nigerien imam, Maître Sefen Guez Guez, because he refused to indicate whether he was in possession of his client’s passport and to hand it over to the authorities. A measure that has provoked an outcry within the profession.
In May, the Gironde prefecture requested the imam’s expulsion to Niger, two years after an attempt by the Interior Ministry to close the mosque he presides over, because it was suspected of hosting imams. “known for their membership in the Islamist movement and their Salafist ideology”. Despite a six-month closure initially announced by the State services, the administrative court and then the Council of State kept the establishment open, ruling that despite publications which “encourage identity withdrawal and challenge the principle of secularism”these did not present “a character of provocation to violence, hatred or discrimination”.
Shortly after the imam’s expulsion request, the Pessac mosque was the target of vandalism. This is believed to be the seventh time since 2015 that it has been vandalized. In early August, the Bordeaux administrative court finally suspended the refusal to renew the controversial imam’s resident card. A “new victory”according to Maître Guez Guez, for whom this decision “consolidated the position” of his client. His situation was then supposed to be regularized, but the Ministry of the Interior intervened, arresting Abdouramane Ridouane on August 8 and ordering his expulsion.
An “attack” on professional secrecy
It was on that day that, according to the French lawyers’ union (SAF), which issued a press release in support of Maître Guez Guez, the Gironde prefecture made “injunction” to the lawyer, “using threats and intimidation, to indicate whether he was in possession of his client’s passport and, if so, to hand it over to the authorities”. The SAF specifies that “The Ministry of the Interior did not hesitate to contact the Attorney General so that criminal and disciplinary proceedings could be initiated against the lawyer.”The union recalls that the professional secrecy of lawyers “must be considered a matter of public order, that it is absolute and can only give way to higher general interests”denounces “unprecedented attacks” and brings his “total support” to the lawyer of the imam of Pessac. Contacted, the Ministry of the Interior did not wish to make any comment.
Despite the decision of the Bordeaux administrative court in favour of renewing the imam’s residence permit, the Paris administrative court rejected the appeal against the preacher’s expulsion, considering that this procedure aimed at sending the imam back to Niger was of a “public interest”. The imam of Pessac has finally appealed his expulsion before the Council of State. The hearing is scheduled for this Friday. Maître Guez Guez says he is rather confident, recalling that the arguments used against his client would be the same as those put forward to justify the closure of the Pessac mosque in 2022. A decision already annulled at the time by the Council of State. “A closure is a less serious decision than an expulsion and the closure had already been judged disproportionate”the lawyer believes.
