French jihadist stripped of passport and deported

A Moroccan-born jihadist has been stripped of his French nationality and sent back to his country of birth because he poses a serious threat to national security, the French government has said.

Published: 24 September 2015 10:20 CEST

French jihadist stripped of passport and deported

Seventeen people with links to terrorism have been expelled from France since the beginning of the year. Photo: AFP

Convicted terrorist Ahmed Sahnouni El Yaacoubi was expelled from France on Tuesday and deported to Morocco, France Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve confirmed.

Born in Casablanca in 1970, the convicted terrorist was sentence in March 2013 to seven years in prison for organizing a recruitment network for jihadists.

But while in prison Ahmed Sahnouni remained active, radicalizing several fellow prisoners, a source told the Huffington Post Maghreb.

In May 2014, the detainee’s French passport was taken away, the first such move on the part of French authorities since 2007.

“Given the particularly serious threat posed by having this individual on French soil” the interior minister decided to initiate expulsion proceedings against him, French authorities said in a statement.

Seventeen people with links to terrorism have been expelled from France since the beginning of the year, the statement concluded.

France has been on high alert since the January 2015 terrorist attacks in Paris which left 17 people dead.