(Brussels Times) Flanders wants to create an institution equivalent to Belgium’s intelligence and state security agency in order to oversee mosques established in its territory.
Overseeing officially recognised mosques is a competency of Belgium’s State Security Service (VSSE in Dutch), managed by the Ministry of Justice, according to Le Soir.
The new Flemish government cited “contradictory recommendations” from VSSE concerning a mosque in Louvain and said it would seek to create its own surveillance institution, according to De Standaard.
The Al Ihsaan [mosque] in the Flemish city was the subject of criticism in 2017 after reports emerged that an imam there had … said hitting a “misbehaving” woman was justified. According to the Francophone daily, the mosque was shut down preventively as a result of the reports.
