(JTA) On the opening of a murder trial over the 2014 slaying of four people at the Jewish Museum of Belgium, a leader of Belgian Jewry accused the defendant’s lawyers of spreading conspiracy theories. Yohan Benizri, president of the Coordinating Committee of […]
(AFP) A Frenchman on trial for shooting dead four people at a Jewish museum in Brussels left his fingerprints and DNA on the weapons used in the terror attack, prosecutors said Friday. Mehdi Nemmouche, 33, listened to the case unfolding against him […]
(AFP) A Frenchman accused of shooting four people dead at a Jewish museum in Brussels went on trial on Thursday, allegedly the first Syria jihad veteran to stage a terror attack in Europe. Mehdi Nemmouche, 33, who was in court, faces a […]
(NY Times) With the start of the new year, Belgium became the latest European country to ban traditional Jewish and Muslim animal slaughtering practices. The move was applauded by animal rights activists but condemned by religious leaders who see the ban as […]
(AFP) Belgian authorities have arrested another suspect in connection with the Paris terror attacks of November 2015, charging him with participating in the activities of a terrorist group, prosecutors said Wednesday. The suspect is believed to have been involved in the supply […]
(AP) Belgian authorities said Wednesday that they have arrested a man who served jail time on terrorism charges over the theft of a computer hard drive containing autopsy reports about the victims of the suicide bombings in Brussels in 2016. Brussels prosecutor’s […]
(Brussels Times) Concerning the trial of Mehdi Nemmouche and Nacer Bendrer, Alexander Strens’s mother expects Nemmouche “to explain himself, and say what he did, who his accomplices are, and what his motives are,” his lawyer, Mr. Dalne, said on Monday upon arrival […]
(AFP) A French jihadist appeared in court on Monday as a jury was chosen for his trial for shooting dead four people at a Jewish museum in Brussels in 2014. Mehdi Nemmouche, the first jihadist to return from Syria’s battlefields to allegedly […]
(AFP) Mehdi Nemmouche stands accused of carrying out Europe’s first attack by an Islamist fighter returning from the war in Syria. But his journey from a French foster home to a Brussels court began not in a Middle Eastern desert but in […]
(NY Times) A Belgian ban on the Muslim and Jewish ways of ritually slaughtering animals went into effect on New Year’s Day, part of a clash across Europe over the balance between animal welfare and religious freedom. With both animal rights advocates […]
(Brussels Times) At least 369 persons have been convicted of infractions of a terrorist nature in Belgium in the past four years, La Dernière Heure reported on Friday, quoting official data. The figures were provided by the federal Office of the Public […]
(Jerusalem Post) A ban on kosher slaughter by the Flanders region of Belgium will go into effect January 1, after legislation prohibiting animal slaughter without pre-stunning was passed in the region’s parliament in July 2017. Slaughter according to Islamic law will also […]
(Reuters) Belgium will appeal against a judge’s order forcing it to repatriate two Belgian women convicted of being Islamic State militants and their six children from Syria, the migration minister said on Sunday. A judge said on Wednesday that Belgium had to […]
(Reuters) A Belgian judge has ordered the government to repatriate six children of Islamic State (IS) militants and their mothers who have been detained in a camp in Kurdish-controlled Syria, the national news agency Belga said on Wednesday. Tatiana Wielandt, 26, and […]
(AFP) An alleged French jihadist accused of returning from Syria and shooting dead four people in an attack on the Jewish Museum of Belgium in central Brussels appeared in court Thursday. Mehdi Nemmouche, allegedly the first foreign fighter to return to stage […]
(Reuters) The United Nations General Assembly formally approved a deal on Wednesday aimed at boosting global cooperation to tackle rising migration, but the United States, Israel, Hungary, Czech Republic and Poland voted against the voluntary pact. U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration has […]
(Reuters) Belgium Prime Minister Charles Michel offered to resign on Tuesday after opponents tabled a no confidence vote in a political crisis triggered by differences over immigration. In office since 2014, Michel lost the support of the biggest party in his coalition, […]
(BBC) Thousands of demonstrators in Brussels have marched against a UN migration pact, adopted in Marrakesh last week. Flemish right-wing parties called the march, which took place near major EU institutions, amid fears the pact could lead to an increase in immigration. […]
(Reuters) U.N. members on Monday adopted a deal aimed at improving the way [the] world copes with rising migration, but almost 30 countries stayed away from the ceremony in Morocco. The pact, meant to foster cooperation on migration, was agreed in July […]
(Reuters) More than 150 countries will join a United Nations conference to adopt a global pact to better handle migrant flows, a senior U.N. official said on Sunday, less than the number that initially worked on the plan. In July, all 193 […]
(AP) Belgium’s center-right government is fighting for its survival this week after the largest coalition party broke away from its three partners and said it would not back a global U.N.-backed migration pact. The right-wing N-VA party started a social media campaign […]
(AFP) Belgium’s domestic intelligence agency warned Friday that the country faces a persistent terror threat, in part because of the radicalisation of prisoners. The State Security Service said Belgium faces a “considerable problem” of extremism in jails and that convicted terrorists continue […]
(Brussels Times) The Belgian intelligence services have warned of a growing trend for Muslim parents to take their children out of [the] schools system, for home-schooling which exposes the children to extremist Salafist propaganda. The state security was announcing its latest annual […]
(Breitbart) Belgian police are only now investigating the case of a man who was put into a coma after being attacked for drinking during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, [six] months after the assault took place. The case dates back to May […]
(Brussels Times) Charity sector organisations, including mosques, are required by law to deposit their accounts at the Commercial Court Registry. On Friday, the Sudpresse publications are reporting however that very few of the Walloon and Brussels mosque charities fulfil this statutory obligation. […]
(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 […]
(BBC) Jailed Islamist Fouad Belkacem, whose group Sharia4Belgium sent dozens of jihadists to Syria, has been stripped of his Belgian citizenship and faces deportation to Morocco. The appeal court in Antwerp ruled that he had fallen seriously short of his duties as […]
(Breitbart) Belgian MP Georges Dallemagne has expressed concern that the Grand Mosque of Brussels may have resumed more hardline sermons and may be continuing to preach hate. Mr Dallemagne said earlier this week that he believed the leaders of the Grand Mosque were deceiving the […]
(Anadolu) The European Court of Human Rights on Tuesday convicted Belgian authorities for violating the EU Convention on Human Rights by excluding a Muslim woman from a courtroom for refusing to remove her headscarf. In 2007, the applicant, referred to by the […]
(Breitbart) Four political parties are pushing forward laws that could prohibit the pro-sharia Partij Islam ahead of Belgium’s upcoming municipal elections. The Independent Federal Democrat Party (DEFI), the right-wing Reform Movement (MR), the Humanist Democratic Centre (CDH), and the Socialist Party (PS) […]
(Brussels Times) The Islamic and Cultural Center of Belgium (CICB) contests before the State Council the decision of Interior Minister Jan Jambon (N-VA) to cancel the concession agreement for the Great Mosque of Brussels, Sudpresse newspapers report Thursday. The oral arguments were […]
(Brussels Times) There were no incidents during Geert Wilders’ visit to Antwerp. Geert Wilders is the leader of the extreme right in the Netherlands. Accompanied by members of Vlaams Belang, he left flowers at the foot of the statues of William of […]
(Brussels Times) The hijab — the headscarf worn by Muslim women as the minimum form of coverage — should be the subject of a ban in schools under the next legislature, according to federal secretary of state Zuhal Demir. “The headscarf has […]
(Breitbart) While Flanders and Wallonia are set to ban unstunned Islamic ritual slaughter in 2019, the practice will remain legal in the Belgian capital of Brussels. One of Islam’s most holy days, the Eid al-Adha festival, begins this week as Muslims around the […]
(Washington Post) Earlier this month, Denmark became the fifth country in Europe to introduce a ban on face coverings in public places. The policy is widely viewed as being targeted at Muslim women who wear veils such as the niqab. Despite protests […]
(Anadolu) Betul Baslik, a Turkish-origin social services and pedagogy graduate, has been denied an internship by a Belgian retirement home due to her headscarf. Born and raised in Belgium, Baslik told Anadolu Agency that she had recently been accepted to pursue her […]
(Brussels Times) The two rulings handed down by the lower court in Ghent against banning the burkini in swimming pools are a first and thus constitute a precedent, the Interfederal Centre for Equal Opportunities, UNIA, stressed on Friday. The court ruled that […]
(Brussels Times) The secretary of state for equal opportunities, Zuhal Demir, said on Wednesday that she wanted the possibility of banning burkinis from swimming pools to be studied. Demir said she saw the wearing of the garment in swimming pools as a […]
(Brussels Times) The Mediahuis publications are reporting on Friday that in two judgments, the court in Ghent overturned the prohibition of the burkini. The cases related to two swimming pools in the north of the country, which had instigated the rule. Prohibiting […]
(Politico) Belgian authorities plan to launch a social media campaign aimed at discouraging potential migrants from coming to the country. The campaign, to be run for a minimum of six months by the Immigration Department (DVZ), will highlight the dangers of irregular migration […]
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