(Brussels Times) The defense team of Smail Farisi will present its case in the trial over the 22 March 2016 bombings on Monday. Farisi is accused of providing a hideout to suicide bomber Ibrahim El Bakraoui, his brother Khalid, and Osama Krayem […]
(National-UAE) The lawyer of one of the 10 defendants in the trial of an ISIS-claimed double suicide bombing in Brussels in 2016 has made the case that his client is complicit in war crimes. Nicolas Cohen, representing Bilal El [Makhoukhi], argued that […]
(Brussels Times) The Liège Criminal Court on Wednesday sentenced a 35-year-old man from Verviers to a suspended sentence of three years’ imprisonment for the remainder of his pre-trial detention and a suspended fine of €4,000 for half. The man was found guilty […]
(Reuters) Belgian foreign affairs minister Hadja Lahbib is facing calls for resignation after granting visas to delegations from Iranian and Russian cities to attend a mayors convention in Brussels last week. Lahbib is under scrutiny for having approved [visa] requests for citizens […]
(Politico) Pascal Smet, foreign affairs minister of the region of Brussels, resigned on Sunday after coming under fire last week for inviting the ultra-conservative mayor of Tehran to the Brussels Urban Summit. “I have decided to resign,” Smet, who is also urban […]
(Brussels Times) A new representative body for Islam in Belgium has been created, with the Muslim Council of Belgium set to come into force this week to replace the scandal-hit Executive of the Muslims of Belgium (EMB). Belgium’s Justice Minister Vincent Van […]
(Brussels Times) State Secretary for Asylum and Migration Nicole de Moor announced on Monday that she has asked for the refugee status of a man from Afghanistan to be re-examined due to cases of hate speech. The man — identified by Belga […]
(Brussels Times) Around 2,000 representatives from 600 cities around the world flocked to Brussels today to attend the Brussels Urban Summit 2023. But one participant garnered particular attention. Alireza Zakani, the ultra-conservative mayor of the Iranian capital of Tehran, was spotted among […]
(Brussels Times) The Antwerp Criminal Court on Thursday sentenced Nora Verhoeven, the repatriated widow of an Islamic State (ISIS) fighter, to 48 months in prison, 18 of them suspended. In 2015, the Brussels woman, then 21 years old, was sentenced in absentia […]
(NL Times) The police arrested a 16-year-old boy from Eindhoven on May 4 for planning a terrorist attack in a chat group on Telegram. The boy is still in custody. On Tuesday, the police also arrested a 19-year-old man from Deventer in […]
(Turkish Minute) Mahinur Özdemir Göktaş, a dual Turkish-Belgian citizen who in 2009 became the first headscarf-wearing lawmaker in a Belgian parliamentary assembly, was appointed a minister in a new cabinet announced by the Turkish president over the weekend. Özdemir is the only […]
(AFP) Belgium’s prosecutor’s office on Thursday said Salah Abdeslam, a Frenchman convicted of a 2015 jihadist massacre in Paris, should be found guilty as “co-perpetrator” of the 2016 bomb attacks in Brussels. “He knowingly helped the cell” that carried out the attacks […]
(Politico) Iran has released Olivier Vandecasteele, a Belgian humanitarian worker who had been detained in Iran for more than a year, in exchange for convicted terrorist Assadollah Assadi, who had been imprisoned in Belgium. “Olivier Vandecasteele is on his way to Belgium,” […]
(Brussels Times) The 2016 terror attacks trial was adjourned at the Brussels Assize Court after a suspect’s lawyer investigated potential issues of impartiality behind the testimony of psychiatric expert Samuel Leistedt. Nicolas Cohen, the lawyer for the terror suspect Bilal El Makhoukhi, […]
(Courthouse News) A former professional European soccer player convicted in Belgium 20 years ago of planning a suicide bombing attack on Americans in Europe appeared in U.S. federal court on Monday to begin his jury trial. Opening arguments began with the prosecution […]
(Brussels Times) Thursday marks the final day of testimonies at the trial of the Brussels terror attacks that occurred in March 2016, with 13 people expected to appear in court. The witnesses set to [take the stand] are known acquaintances of accomplices who are […]
(Brussels Times) For several weeks, the victims of the 22 March 2016 attacks came to lay a little of their burden of painful memories before the Brussels court of assizes. On Wednesday, an army psychologist lifted a corner of the veil on […]
(National-UAE) Belgian police this week arrested seven alleged ISIS supporters — almost all Chechens — who were accused of attempting to plan a terrorist attack within the country. The men were believed to have been searching for weapons. The arrests brought renewed […]
(Brussels Times) The seven people arrested in Flanders on Thursday on suspicion of planning a terrorist attack have been placed under arrest warrants. They will appear before the council chamber within five days to determine whether or not to extend their custody, […]
(AFP) Belgium police have arrested an Iraqi immigrant suspected of belonging to an Al-Qaeda cell that carried out deadly car bombings in Baghdad in 2009-2010, prosecutors said Friday. The man, identified by the initials O.Y.T., born in 1979, was detained on Wednesday […]
(AFP) Belgian police on Thursday arrested seven people suspected of supporting the Islamic State (IS) group and plotting a “terrorist attack,” prosecutors said. Almost all the suspects are ethnic Chechens, and three of them possess Belgian nationality, prosecutors said in a statement. […]
(AFP) Belgium said Thursday it is studying a request from Iran for the transfer of one of its diplomats who is serving time on a conviction for terrorism offences. “It is true that Iran has officially requested the transfer of Mr Assadollah […]
(Times of Israel) An alleged financier for the Hezbollah terrorist organization was arraigned in a federal court in New York City on Wednesday. Mohammad Bazzi has been accused of funneling millions of dollars to the Lebanese terror group. The US Justice Department […]
(Brussels Times) Belgium’s Justice Minister Vincent Van Quickenborne has contradicted an announcement made by Iran that the much-discussed prisoner swap to free Belgian aid worker Olivier Vandecasteele has been agreed. Despite long efforts to broker an agreement that would see Vandecasteele liberated […]
(AFP) Belgium on Tuesday said it had formally asked Iran to repatriate jailed aid worker Olivier Vandecasteele from Tehran, after a disputed prisoner exchange treaty entered into force. Belgian Foreign Minister Hadja Lahbib said she had informed her Iranian counterpart Hossein Amir-Abdollahian […]
(Brussels Times) As the trial of the 2016 terror attacks in Brussels progresses, the accused have refused to offer their sincere apologies to the victims and provided little clarification when questioned by the Public Prosecutor’s Office and lawyers on Thursday afternoon. On […]
(AFP) Defendants on trial over the 2016 Brussels attacks recounted Wednesday the anger they felt at the aerial bombardments of the Islamic State group by an international coalition. Nine defendants are currently on trial over the March 22, 2016, suicide bomb attacks […]
(AFP) Jihadists planned a follow-up attack in France during the UEFA Euro 2016 championships, months after killing 130 people in November 2015 attacks in Paris, a defendant in a Brussels trial said Thursday. But that fell apart when a member of the […]
(Brussels Times) In the trial for the March 2016 terrorist attacks, one of the suspects admitted responsibility during the interrogation on Wednesday in the Brussels Court of Assizes. The 10 defendants — one of whom is missing, and presumed dead in Syria […]
(Brussels Times) Some 20 Brussels cultural institutions have launched a “Ramadan-friendly” label, which allows spectators to break their fast during the show and gives a warning if the performance includes violence, nudity or music. Flemish Minister-President and Cultural Minister Jan Jambon, however, […]
(AFP) The main suspect in the trial of nine alleged jihadists accused of taking part in the March 2016 bombings in Brussels denied on Wednesday having any knowledge of the plot. Salah Abdeslam, a 33-year-old Frenchman already jailed over his role in […]
(Brussels Times) The four terror suspects — three men and a woman — who were arrested in the Belgian cities of Antwerp, Brussels and Eupen last week for allegedly planning an attack against Antwerp mayor Bart De Wever will remain in custody, […]
(Brussels Times) Individuals arrested earlier this week as part of a terror investigation reportedly were planning on assassinating the Mayor of Antwerp Bart De Wever and police officers. Eight people were arrested on Monday night in Brussels, Antwerp and Eupen as part of an […]
(AFP) Seven people were imprisoned in Belgium Wednesday in two investigations into “possible terrorist attacks,” the federal prosecutor’s office said. The seven, five Belgians as well as a Turk and a Bulgarian, were charged with participation in the activities of a terrorist […]
(AFP) Belgium on Tuesday launched an investigation into how a Syrian man arrested last week on suspicion of carrying out war crimes for the Islamic State group was granted refugee status. The 38-year-old, who left Syria in 2015, was detained over the […]
(AFP) Police have detained eight people during investigations into an alleged jihadist plot to commit “terrorist attacks” in Belgium, authorities said Tuesday. Raids were conducted late Monday on homes in the capital Brussels, the port city of Antwerp and the border town […]
(Brussels Times) In the trial of the March 2016 terror attacks in Brussels, Monday (tomorrow) will mark the opening of the final week of victim testimonies before the Brussels Court of Assizes. Monday will start with the testimony of two sisters of […]
(Brussels Times) The Director General of Belgium’s Federal Judicial Police Eric Snoeck stated on Friday that the terrorist threat posed to Belgium “has not disappeared completely,” seven years after the terror attacks that rocked the capital in 2016. Speaking on [a ] […]
(Brussels Times) An event inviting Muslims of the LGBTQIA+ community in Antwerp to celebrate an iftar, a meal eaten after sunset during Ramadan, in a safe space on 31 March has been cancelled for security reasons. “Queer Iftar” was a joint initiative set up […]
(Brussels Times) The victims of the terror attacks that rocked Belgium on this day seven years ago are being remembered with moments of reflection on Wednesday, including at the Maelbeek metro station in Brussels and at Brussels Airport in Zaventem, where the […]
(Brussels Times) Valérie Mbokanga was working at Zaventem airport when the bombs exploded there seven years ago. She told the Brussels Court of Assizes at the trial of 10 persons suspected of involvement in the 22 March 2016 attacks that she served […]
(Brussels Times) The Brussels Court of Appeal has ordered the Belgian police to stop the daily strip searches of the defendants in the trial for the 22 March 2016 terror attacks in Brussels. The daily strip searches of the defendants accompanied by […]
(Brussels Times) Victims and relatives of victims gave testimony on Wednesday at the Brussels assize court in charge of trying 10 men — one of them in absentia — for the 22 March 2016 terror attacks in the Belgian capital. Before the […]
(AFP) A teenage girl who lost both her legs in a 2016 Brussels suicide bombing, and fought back to become a Paralympian, was the first victim to testify on Monday at the trial of those accused of plotting or aiding the attacks. […]
(Brussels Times) Three months since Belgium’s biggest trial started, procedures will progress to a new phase that will see around 100 victims and their relatives share their testimonies this week. On Monday morning, medical experts, including a rehabilitation doctor and a psychiatrist, […]
(Politico) Belgium’s highest court on Friday overturned a freeze on a controversial treaty on prisoner exchanges that could allow an Iranian diplomat convicted of terrorism to be sent back to Tehran. The treaty would allow Iranians convicted in Belgium to serve their […]
(Brussels Times) The court’s decision banning daily strip searches for those accused in the trial over the 22 March 2016 terror attacks in Brussels should be repealed, a lawyer for the Belgian state argued on Friday. The judge previously ruled that the […]
(Brussels Times) The trial of the 2016 Brussels terrorist attacks will enter a new phase on Monday after a week-long break in hearings. During the first week back, the first hearings of background witnesses will be followed by the first testimony of victims. […]
(AP) A Lebanese and Belgian citizen considered a key financier of the Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah was arrested Friday in Bucharest, Romania’s capital, federal authorities said. Mohammad Ibrahim Bazzi, 58, who was labeled a “global terrorist” by the United States in 2018 […]
(NL Times) A Rotterdam court acquitted 33-year-old Annas A. on Wednesday for his alleged role in the terrorist attacks in Paris in 2015. A., who is from Amsterdam, was suspected of being a middleman who helped supply weapons that were used in […]
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