(JTA) Antwerp’s Jewish community will lose its military protection under a plan by Belgium’s new government to eliminate the presence of soldiers in urban centers. Approximately 18,000 Jews live in the city in close proximity. Several troops protect its Jewish quarter. A […]
(Brussels Times) The Flemish minister for animal welfare, Ben Weyts (N-VA), said he is “fundamentally in disagreement” with the opinion handed down yesterday by the advocate-general of the European Court of Justice, declaring a Flemish ban on ritual slaughter illegal. Flanders has […]
(Courthouse News) In a legal test case pitting animal rights advocates and far-right politicians against Muslim and Jewish religious leaders seeking to protect halal and kosher meats, a magistrate for Europe’s highest court on Thursday said bans on the ritual slaughtering of […]
(Brussels Times) A teacher of Islamic religion who was transferred from his school in Anderlecht in Brussels after publishing controversial remarks about the attack on the magazine Charlie Hebdo has no case for a breach of his freedom of expression, the European […]
(Brussels Times) The presence of military personnel on the streets of Belgium will be extended until 2 October, the federal council of ministers has decided. The use of the military for regular security work dates back to January 2015, when Operation Vigilant […]
(Reuters) The European Union has so far rebuffed British calls for talks on a deal to allow London to send unwanted migrants back to Europe from 2021, and could use the issue as potential leverage in wider Brexit negotiations, diplomats and officials […]
(Brussels Times) Two mosques in Antwerp are filing a complaint against the far-right Vlaams Belang political party and its chairman Tom Van Grieken for spreading images on social media which they feel incite hatred and discrimination. The Al Aqsa Mosque and the […]
(Brussels Times) About 10 [sheep] were seized on Friday by police in the Brussels-Midi zone (Anderlecht, Saint-Gilles, Forest) in three raids conducted in connection with the Muslim festival of Eid-ul-Adha, according to the Help Animals association. The association had requested the intervention […]
(Brussels Times) Eight Islamic State (IS) supporters from Brussels have been stripped of their Belgian nationality, in the latest move by a Belgian court to keep foreign terrorist fighters from returning to the country. The decision to strip the eight fighters of […]
(Courthouse News) Religious groups argued their case against a Belgian law banning ritual animal slaughter before the European Union’s highest court on Wednesday, while Belgium denied the law infringes on religious freedom. The law, which requires that animals be stunned before being […]
(Jewish News) Senior Jewish and Muslim leaders this week issued a joint plea ahead of a European Court of Justice hearing into the legality of a Belgian ban on religious slaughter. Standing together on the issue were Chief Rabbi Pinchas Goldschmidt, president […]
(Brussels Times) On Sunday afternoon, Brussels students under the name of #HijabisFightBack gathered at the Mont des Arts for a demonstration against the headscarf ban at a Brussels university college. The demonstration is a consequence of the decision of the Constitutional Court […]
(Brussels Times) Pressure from terrorists and radicals in Belgian prisons is gradually decreasing, according to a report on the fight against radicalisation in Belgian prisons written by Egmont Institute researcher Thomas Renard. At the end of May, there were 165 inmates linked […]
(Brussels Times) The city council for Brussels-City has given the go-ahead for a demonstration against a ban on wearing the Islamic headscarf in public offices and in schools. However, the council warned the organisers they could be fined if the numbers taking […]
(Brussels Times) Three wives of IS fighters and six of their children are on their way to Belgium, the federal prosecutor’s office confirmed on Wednesday. Tatiana Wielandt, Bouchra Abouallal and Nadia Baghouri are being repatriated with six of their children, according to […]
(Brussels Times) An Antwerp court has stripped an Islamic State supporter of her Belgian nationality and sentenced her to five years in prison. The 32-year-old woman, identified as Rahma B., was also fined €8,000 as part of her conviction for participating in […]
(Brussels Times) A police officer in Brussels has been jailed for four years after prosecutors found he had acted as an informant for the brother of a man seen as the mastermind of the Brussels and Paris attacks. The 53-year-old officer with […]
(Brussels Times) Over ten universities and university colleges in Belgium reaffirmed they will not impose a headscarf ban in class, despite the Constitutional Court recently ruling … that such a ban is allowed in higher education. At the start of June, the […]
(Brussels Times) Zuhal Demir (N-VA), Flemish minister for justice and law enforcement, has called a halt to a programme set up with the region’s imams aimed at prisoners who have become radicalised while in prison. The programme — Theological Approach to Islamic […]
(Anadolu) The Belgian Association for the Prevention of Islamophobia (CCIB) reacted early Saturday to a constitutional opinion that said wearing headscarves could be banned in colleges. CCIB Director Mustafa Chairi told Anadolu Agency a court in Brussels asked for the opinion of […]
(Brussels Times) A notorious terrorism convict is among seven suspects arrested Monday for the 42-day-long abduction of a Limburg teen whose family has been convicted for drug-related crimes. Officials on Tuesday said that Khalid Bouloudo, twice convicted for terrorism, is one of […]
(Brussels Times) September sees the end of an operation which brought military patrols on the streets of Belgium’s cities for more than five years, defence minister Philippe Goffin (MR) has announced. The patrols of Operation Vigilant Guardian were intended to support the […]
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(Brussels Times) As … Ramadan, the month in which many Muslims traditionally fast, is approaching, the Brussels municipality of Molenbeek has adapted its usual Ramadan measures to the lockdown ones because of the new coronavirus (Covid-19). “Our municipality has a large Muslim […]
(Brussels Times) Close to 1,600 victims of terror attacks have applied to the Financial Assistance Commission for compensation, according to the Justice Department. By the end of December 2019, 1,000 people had requested such assistance from the state but the number shot […]
(Brussels Times) Two widows of IS jihadists were acquitted of terrorism charges by a Turkish court on the 11th of March. Tatiana Wielandt (27) and Bouchra Abouallal (26) were immediately released, along with their children aged two and five. They are currently […]
(Brussels Times) Today is the fourth anniversary of the terrorist attacks on Brussels Airport and Maalbeek metro station, and a subdued commemoration will take place amid scenes of another national crisis. Four years ago this morning, terrorists exploded two suitcase bombs in […]
(Brussels Times) A court has agreed to temporarily suspend the hefty penalty payments slapped on the government for failing to initiate the repatriation of children of Belgian Islamic State (IS) fighters from Syria. Striking down a request for the penalty to be […]
(Brussels Times) Belgian IS terrorist Saïda El Mimouni was sentenced on Tuesday to five years in prison and a €8,000 fine. El Mimouni, who is from the municipality of Borgerhout in Antwerp, Flanders, was not present at her trial. The federal court […]
(Brussels Times) Since the terror attacks in Paris and Brussels, many garbage containers with compartments for sorting have been replaced by single bags for residual waste at STIB stations. “Just now that sorting is so high on the agenda, STIB does not […]
(Brussels Times) Thirteen men have been named as the main suspects of the 2016 Brussels attacks, eight of whom will appear before Belgium’s highest criminal court. Federal prosecutors want to bring eight men before the Brussels court of assizes, all identified as […]
(Brussels Times) The state of Belgium has decided to file an appeal against a ruling by a Brussels court on 11 December ordering it to provide 10 children of IS members in Syria with consular assistance and administrative, travel and identity documents […]
(Brussels Times) A woman from Antwerp affiliated with the Islamic State (IS) in Syria risks a five-year prison sentence and being stripped of her Belgian nationality. The woman, identified as Saïda El Mimouni, was married to a member of the now-disbanded terrorist […]
(Brussels Times) The Executive of the Muslims of Belgium (EMB) has submitted a request for the recognition of the Great Mosque of Brussels, according to the department of Brussels Minister-President Rudi Vervoort. Currently, there are 21 recognised mosques in the Brussels Region, […]
(Brussels Times) The Belgian state will already have to pay €100,000 to ten children of IS terrorists, as they did not provide them with assistance to get back to Belgium. The government has received its first bill, via a bailiff, on Tuesday. […]
(Brussels Times) The Belgian state has seven more days to provide consular assistance to ten children of Begian IS terrorists to help them return to Belgium, before it will have to pay a €50,000 penalty per day it does not. Belgium has […]
(Brussels Times) The Flemish minister for integration and interior, Bart Somers (Open Vld), wants to withdraw official recognition of the Noor-ul-Haram mosque in Antwerp because of internal disagreements that have been going on there for over three years. Somers wants to pull […]
(Brussels Times) A jihadist fighter from Brussels has been sentenced to five years in prison in absentia after sending threatening messages about “shredded bodies” to a former education minister. Brussels’ correctional court handed the maximum sentence to Soufian Defauwe and also ordered […]
(Brussels Times) On Monday afternoon, four more children of Belgian IS women will arrive at Brussels Airport Zaventem. The children are two 7-year-old boys and two 5-year-old boys, who are the eldest children of Tatiana Wielandt (27) and her sister-in-law Bouchra Abouallal […]
(Brussels Times) Five years ago this month saw the start of the military operation now known as Operation Vigilant Guardian (OVG), which saw the arrival of military patrols on the streets of Brussels and other cities, in response to a growing terrorist […]
(Brussels Times) Two prison guards have been found guilty of mistreating an infamous jihadist preacher accused of “perverting” a generation following his conviction for running a large radicalisation network in Brussels. The two guards were accused of violently handling Khalid Zerkani, throwing […]
(Breitbart) Hugo Micheron, a researcher at the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS), has claimed that the rise in jihadist activity in France and Belgium is directly linked to “neglected” enclaves and prisons in the two countries. Micheron interviewed 80 jihadists […]
(Brussels Times) Accused terrorist Salah Abdeslam held wide-ranging and open conversations with his fellow prisoners while he was detained in Bruges prison following his arrest in Brussels in March 2016, according to secret recordings made by Belgian state security. A document containing […]
(Brussels Times) The Belgian government will not appeal a ruling to repatriate ten children of Belgian jihadist fighters from Syria, departing from previous statements that it would likely appeal the order. Defence Minister Philippe Goffin said in parliament that the government would […]
(Brussels Times) A relative of a Belgian jihadist said to be the “executioner of Raqqa” has been charged with financing terrorism after prosecutors found he had transferred funds suspected of ending up in the hands of one of the suspects of the […]
(Brussels Times) A jihadist fighter from Antwerp was found and detained in Turkey just before Christmas day, according to reports which emerged just hours after he was stripped of his Belgian nationality. Fouad Akrich, 27, was found in an unspecified location in […]
(Brussels Times) A Belgian imam known for advocating a form of “rational Islam” found out he was barred from flying over US territory after being denied boarding on his flight to Mexico. Ghent-based Khalid Benhaddou was at Zaventem airport when a check-in […]
(Brussels Times) The federal prosecutor, Frédéric Van Leeuw, has explained that the service remains fully occupied in the fight against terrorism, although their focus has now shifted towards what he calls “terrorism of inspiration” as opposed to structured terrorism, he told the […]
(Brussels Times) A Brussels court has stripped six foreign fighters of their Belgian nationality, after being sentenced to prison in absentia for their involvement in the terror group Sharia4Belgium. The six fighters all had Belgo-Moroccan nationality and could not be notified of […]
(Brussels Times) The number of new cases of terrorist activity opened by the federal prosecutor’s office fell in 2019 to 90, compared with 155 in 2018. The figure is significant as the first time since 2013 that numbers have been at the […]
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