(European Conservative) A magistrate who committed a “gross and unacceptable error” that allowed Islamist Abdesalem Lassoued to commit October’s terror attack in Brussels will not face disciplinary action. An internal investigation exonerated both the magistrate and his secretary, leading to a war […]
(Times of Israel) Belgium’s government on Monday said it wanted to revoke the refugee status of the head of a network supporting Palestinian prisoners, whom it accused of being an “extremist hate preacher.” Mohammed Khatib is the coordinator in Europe for Samidoun, […]
(Times of Israel) A stash of weapons was found hidden under a pine tree in southern Bulgaria last week. The arms were linked to four suspected Hamas members arrested in Germany and the Netherlands in December on suspicion of preparing an attack […]
(Brussels Times) A 25-year-old man from Menen (West Flanders) has been referred to the correctional court on charges of terrorism. The man, of Chechen origin, reportedly planned, together with his partner, an attack in Antwerp’s Jewish district. Three other suspects will have […]
(VRT) In Ghent, 22 people were detained on Wednesday night after a Kurdish business in the city was vandalised. Half of those held are minors and police found a number of weapons. The incident follows clashes in recent days between people from […]
(AFP) Belgium’s Prime Minister Alexander De Croo called for calm on Wednesday after escalating tensions between Turkish and Kurdish groups in the country just days before local elections in Turkey. “We are asking everyone to calm down, stop the provocations and continue […]
(AFP) Belgium’s anti-terrorist agency on Tuesday said 650 people considered to have jihadist and other extremist ties are under surveillance in the country. The data was published as Belgian officials stress they are doing everything to prevent attacks after at least 139 […]
(Politico) Protesters clashed with Brussels police on Monday during a pro-Kurdish demonstration in front of the European Parliament. Over 200 people gathered in Place du Luxembourg at midday in response to riots that erupted Sunday in Heusden-Zolder and Houthalen-Helchteren in eastern Belgium. […]
(Belga) Six people were injured in clashes between people of Kurdish and Turkish origin in Limburg on Sunday. Police will increase surveillance at the site of the riots and at nearby schools and mosques in the coming weeks. Five people were lightly […]
(Brussels Times) Today (22 March) marks eight years since the Brussels terror attacks which claimed the lives of 32 people and injured hundreds more. The famous Manneken-Pis statue has been dressed for the occasion in a nod to victims and their families. […]
(AFP) Police in France have detained three teenagers who were allegedly in contact with four people arrested in Belgium over the weekend on suspicions they were planning a jihadist attack, a source close to the case said Tuesday. The three minors, aged […]
(Belga) The four people detained in an anti-terrorist operation in Belgium on Sunday were planning to attack the Botanique concert hall in Brussels, the federal prosecutor’s office said on Monday. Three underage suspects and one adult were detained on Sunday during an […]
(AFP) Belgian police on Sunday arrested four youths over messages they exchanged allegedly plotting a jihadist attack deemed “imminent enough to intervene,” a spokesman for the federal prosecutor’s office told AFP. The four — three minors in their “late teens” and an […]
(Brussels Times) The threat level in Belgium remains high, with Brussels in particular a potential target — as October’s terror attack proved. Belgium’s threat assessment body (OCAD) has observed a significant rise in threats in 2023. The second-highest threat level remains in […]
(Brussels Times) The Flemish far-right Vlaams Belang party replaced the Antwerp place name signs with Arabic ones on Thursday night, as a protest against “the Islamisation of the city.” However, Arabic speakers have pointed out that they completely misspelt the new name. […]
(Brussels Times) The Brussels Parliament has decided to tighten its visitor regulations following a video of an imam reciting a prayer in the parliamentary hemicycle that circulated online last Friday. The incident occurred on 12 January and has been condemned by politicians […]
(Brussels Times) In the investigation into the terrorist attack in which two Swedish nationals were killed in Brussels in October 2023, the Italian anti-terrorist police carried out searches targeting 18 people on Tuesday. The operation concerned “18 people of North African origin” […]
(Jerusalem Post) Radical Islam is running rampant in Belgium as the European country takes a pro-Hamas and anti-Israel stance, Diaspora Affairs Minister Amichai Chikli told the Jerusalem Post on Saturday night in response to an imam reciting a Quranic verse about warfare […]
(Jerusalem Post) An imam at the Belgian parliament last week began reciting a verse from the Quran that explicitly calls on Muslims to kill and take Jews captive. The Quran excerpt is verse 33:26 from the Al-Ahzab surah (chapter). It translates to: […]
(Courthouse News) Europe’s top rights court upheld a ban on killing livestock without first stunning them, finding on Tuesday that animal welfare could trump religious practice. A mixed-faith group of people and organizations brought the complaint to the European Court of Human […]
(Jerusalem Post) MP Michael Freilich from the opposition New Flemish Alliance party recounted his astonishment at the response of Justice Minister Paul Van Tigchelt, who openly admitted as a response to his inquiry that there indeed are groups who operate in Belgium […]
(European Conservative) On Wednesday, February 7th, French Justice Minister Éric [Dupond]-Moretti announced the arrival on French soil of the terrorist Salah Abdeslam, who until then had been imprisoned in Belgium, to serve an “irreducible life imprisonment” (perpétuité incompressible) — a penalty that […]
(Belga) A 31-year-old Belgian man listed in an international terrorist database was denied entry to the Philippines at Manila airport, according to a statement released on Monday by the Philippine Bureau of Immigration. The man was turned away on 7 February after […]
(France 24) Salah Abdeslam, sentenced to life in jail over the 2015 Paris jihadist attacks, was removed from his Belgian prison cell on Wednesday and transferred back to France. Abdeslam is the only surviving member of the Islamic State group cell that […]
(National-UAE) European prosecutors are adopting harsher sentences towards female ISIS returnees as their numbers increase due to government repatriation programmes from prison camps in north-east Syria, a new book published by Dutch counter-terrorism think tank ICCT has found. “Women can be both […]
(AFP) A Syrian charged with committing war crimes and crimes against humanity in his home country between 2011 and 2016 has been detained in Belgium pending a court hearing next week, judicial officials said Monday. The defendant, a man identified as Hossin […]
(AP) The number of antisemitic acts registered in France and Belgium rose sharply since Hamas’ attack on Israel triggered the war in Gaza, according to figures released Thursday in both countries. In France, data from the interior ministry and the Jewish Community […]
(European Jewish Press) A 19-year-old Antwerp man suspected of planning an attack on a Jewish institution was arrested on Saturday, Antwerp public prosecutors said on Sunday evening. “He is suspected of illegal possession of weapons and preparation of a terrorist attack,” the […]
(Brussels Times) Three suspects apprehended on a Flixbus bound for Brussels were released after being questioned about an alleged bomb plot, according to the East Flanders Public Prosecutor’s Office. The bus, having departed from Lille, was en route to Brussels when a […]
(Brussels Times) Espionage and counterintelligence are once again key priorities for Belgium’s State Security. However, the threat of jihadist-inspired terrorism, which was at the top of the agenda several years ago, is also resurging. At the start of every new year, Belgium’s State Security […]
(Politico) Belgian police on Thursday arrested three men on a bus from Lille to Brussels after a passenger said he heard other people on board talking about planning to commit an attack, Belgian news outlet VRT reported. The passenger who made the emergency […]
(Brussels Times) The Federal Police of Belgium is taking measures to [strategize] its workings following last year’s terror attack in Brussels, but says that eradicating the risk entirely is “impossible.” Several people including senior police officers were heard before the House Committees […]
(Politico) The Israel-Hamas war has created a long-term threat to European security that is likely to last beyond any ceasefire, Belgium’s Interior Minister Annelies Verlinden has warned. Several countries, including Belgium, have raised their security threat level after terror attacks carried out […]
(Global News) A Moroccan man is facing charges in Canada after a series of bomb threats in Ontario last month and his arrest by Belgian police, the OPP says. The Ontario Provincial Police provided a brief update Wednesday on their investigation into […]
(Brussels Times) KU Leuven university has filed a complaint against student mosque International Muslim Student Association Leuven (IMSAL) after a sexist lecture was held there, Apache reported on Friday. “A woman without a headscarf will never be able to be a role […]
(Belga) A man was charged and detained in Paris on Thursday as part of the investigation into the 16 October attack in Brussels that killed two Swedish fans. Four suspects have now been charged in France, the national anti-terrorist prosecutor’s office (PNAT) […]
(Iran International) The Belgian police are beefing up security measures to protect Darya Safai, an Iranian-born member of parliament, following death threats she received on social media. In an interview with Iran International, Safai said that the death threats against her have […]
(Politico) The EU’s top court on Tuesday ruled that a public administration may ban staff from visibly wearing any sign which reveals philosophical or religious beliefs, in order to create a “neutral administrative environment.” “Such a rule is not discriminatory if it […]
(Brussels Times) Three individuals suspected of involvement in a terror attack in the capital last month are appearing before the Brussels Chambers on Friday, the Federal Prosecutor’s Office confirmed. The three individuals were placed under arrest following five house searches in Ninove, […]
(Brussels Times) Over a month after two Swedish citizens were killed during a terror attack in Brussels, Belgium will maintain terrorist threat level 3 for now, Prime Minister Alexander De Croo announced during a press conference on Wednesday afternoon. Belgium’s Coordination Body […]
(Reuters) Belgium has detained three more suspects over the fatal shooting of two Swedes who were in Brussels to watch a European championship soccer match last month, a prosecutors’ spokesperson said on Wednesday, confirming reports in Belgian media. The three men were […]
(Afghanistan International) Abdul Bari Omar, the Taliban’s director of the Food and Drug Administration, recently stated on the X social platform that he is still in Europe following his visit to the Netherlands, Belgium, Slovakia, and Germany. Omar revealed he had engaged […]
(Brussels Times) Investigators are looking for witnesses and camera footage related to the terror attack that claimed the lives of two Swedish nationals in Brussels on 16 October. The Federal Police published a search notice on Wednesday at the request of the Brussels […]
(Brussels Times) In the aftermath of the terror attack in Brussels last month, a prospective law was discussed in parliament for the first time to ensure foreign nationals and asylum seekers required to leave the country actually do so. State Secretary for Asylum […]
(Brussels Times) A man arrested in connection with the 16 October attack in Brussels will remain in provisional detention at least for another month, according to Belgium’s federal prosecutor. The man is suspected of being connected to the weapon used during the […]
(JTA) Police in at least three European countries have arrested people they said were threatening or planning terror attacks related to the Israel-Hamas war. The arrests come amid a global spike in antisemitic incidents following Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel that […]
(Brussels Times) As a new suspect was arrested for his possible involvement in the recent shooting in Brussels, and the violence between Israel and Hamas continues, Belgium is expected to remain at terrorism threat level 3 for “some time.” Two Swedish citizens […]
(Brussels Times) A man who was arrested in the investigation into the Brussels attack on 16 October denies his involvement, his lawyer announced. A decision on his further arrest will be made later on Monday. The federal prosecutor’s office ordered two house […]
(Politico) Belgium had big plans for its upcoming Council presidency. But its handling of the October 16 shooting spree by Tunisian gunman Abdesalem Lassoued, which left two Swedish football supporters dead, has since led to a series of embarrassing revelations. Lassoued was […]
(Brussels Times) Belgium is set to remain at threat level 3 for some time following the Brussels attack and ongoing Israel-Hamas war, according to Gert Vercauteren, the head of OCAD, the agency responsible for terror threat analysis. Since the attack in Brussels, […]
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