(Brussels Times) Defendant Hervé Bayingana Muhirwa gradually became interested in radicalism after converting to Islam in 2011, according to information presented by examining magistrates and investigators on Tuesday at the Brussels Assize Court, in charge of judging the attacks committed in the Belgian capital on 22 March 2016.
Muhirwa thus became involved in a network steeped in radicalism. Numerous computer files, including multiple “nasheeds” — Muslim religious chants — belonging to him are also linked to al-Qaeda, the Islamic State (ISIS) group and jihadist propaganda.
Until his arrest on 8 April 2016, Hervé Bayingana Muhirwa, born on 5 May 1985, was unknown to the Belgian judicial authorities. He had no criminal record. On the other hand, he was reported in various administrative reports to have been checked in the company of several people known to be close to the jihadist milieu.
