France has expelled a Tunisian Muslim cleric for "radicalism" and "unacceptable remarks", Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said in a statement on Twitter.
Mahjoub Mahjoubi © FTR
France has expelled a Tunisian Muslim cleric for "radicalism" and "unacceptable remarks", Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said in a statement on Twitter.
"The radical Imam Mahjoub Mahjoubi has just been expelled from the national territory, less than 12 hours after his arrest. We will not let people get away with anything," Darmanin said in a statement on X.
In an earlier statement, Darmanin said he had given instructions to issue a ministerial deportation order against "this radical 'imam' with unacceptable remarks". "Firmness is the rule," he added.
In a post that went viral on social media and was widely reported in French media, the imam referred to "the three-coloured flag" as "satanic".
Mahjoubi, who preached in the Ettaouba mosque of Bagnols-sur-Ceze, southern France, has denied any wrongdoing. He told French media that his comments had been taken out of context and that he had not meant to disrespect the French flag. The French flag has three colours: blue, white and red.
His lawyer told French media he will appeal the expulsion procedure.
Human Rights Watch has accused an Abu Dhabi-based security company of recruiting Colombian private military contractors and deploying them to fight alongside Sudan's Rapid Support Forces (RSF) between 2024 and 2025, adding to what the rights group describes as a growing body of evidence of Emirati military support for the paramilitary group.
Farmers across Sudan say the hike in global fuel and fertilizer costs resulting from the Iran conflict will force them to cut back on planting this summer, restricting food production in a country where war has caused acute hunger.
At least nine people were killed and six others injured when a four-storey building collapsed overnight in the Moroccan city of Fez, about 200 kilometres (124 miles) east of Rabat, local authorities said on Thursday.
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