(IPT) Of late, most of Europe has focused its counterterrorism efforts on handling the potential returnees from Syria, and possible radicals hiding among migrants from the region. Yet recent events indicate that not all European countries are fully prepared to defend against the radicals who already live there.
Case in point: Anjem Choudary, founder of the radical group Sharia4UK, was released from prison Friday. He served just half of his 5½-year sentence for inviting support for ISIS. Yet experts warned that he “actually got worse in prison,” and now sees himself as a martyr.
By contrast, only days later, just across the channel, lawmakers took a different tack with Choudary’s acolyte, Fouad Belkacem, founder of a group called Sharia4Belgium based on Choudary’s model. Compounding his earlier 12-year sentence for promoting terrorism, a Belgian judge on Monday revoked the 36-year-old’s Belgian citizenship. Although Belkacem is Belgian by birth, he also has Moroccan citizenship through his parents. He now fears being deported.
