FOREIGN
Imam insulted France's flag - immediately expelled
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In an attention-grabbing video, Mahjoub Mahjoubi calls the French flag "satanic". This prompted the French authorities to act immediately. Just twelve hours after the arrest, the imam was no longer in the country.

Mahjoub Mahjoubi came to France from Tunisia 38 years ago and was the imam of the Ettaouba Mosque in the small town of Bagnols-sur-Cèze in the south of France. He was arrested after a viral video circulated online showing him describing a "tricolor flag" as "satanic" and saying it has "no value to Allah".

Although he did not specifically mention the flag of France, many assumed that was the one he was referring to.

The deportation order states that the imam has promoted a "retrograde, intolerant and violent image of Islam, which would likely encourage behavior contrary to the values ​​of the republic". It also says that his teachings encouraged discrimination against women, "tensions with the Jewish community" and "jihadist radicalization".

The imam also referred to the Jewish people as "the enemy".

Does not release anything
According to France's Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin, the country's immigration reforms have enabled a quick deportation of the imam. Less than 12 hours after his arrest, he was also sent out of the country, according to the minister, who added that the new laws make France stronger.

"We will not release anything," he warns .

French media reported that Mahjoub Mahjoubi had boarded a flight to Tunisia on Thursday night.

France's immigration reforms have made it easier for immigrants to be deported if they are convicted of crimes or deemed to pose a serious threat to public order.