(AFP) The sole surviving member of an Islamic State group cell that killed 130 people in Paris in 2015 was on Wednesday transferred from France to Belgium, where he will be tried later this year. Salah Abdeslam, a 32-year-old Frenchman of Moroccan […]
(Morocco World News) Recent data from the Statbel, the Belgian statistics office, reported that 294 babies were named Mohamed in 2021, down from 518 registered cases in 2011. Data show that the popularity of Mohamed in Belgium had been steadily growing between […]
(Politico) Belgium’s parliament on Tuesday will debate whether to ratify a proposed treaty with Iran that could allow an Iranian convicted of terrorism in Belgium to be sent back to Tehran. Iran has loudly demanded that Belgium release Assadollah Assadi, an Iranian […]
(AFP) A Belgian court imposed a three-year suspended sentence Thursday on Abid Aberkane, convicted of assisting the sole surviving jihadist behind the November 2015 Paris attacks by housing him in Brussels. The ruling came a day after a French court sentenced Aberkane’s […]
(Brussels Times) More than 35,000 women and girls living in Belgium are estimated to be circumcised or at risk of female genital mutilation (FGM), which is a human rights violation, a recent study has found. At least 200 million girls and women in […]
(Brussels Times) The trial of the 13 November attacks in Paris, France’s worst-ever terror attack, saw the defence on Monday plead for the acquittal of Belgian Yassine Atar. The defence arguments come after nine months of testimony in a longstanding trial, held […]
(Brussels Times) After the liberation of Iraqi and Syrian territories from the self-proclaimed caliphate of the Islamic State (IS), certain European countries have chosen to repatriate the children of IS fighters as well as their mothers — if they possessed European citizenship. […]
(Breitbart) Prosecutors in Belgium are seeking ten years in prison for a Syrian migrant who is believed to have sexually abused his eight-year-old step-daughter and left her pregnant as a result of the abuse. The 27-year-old is said to have raped the […]
(JTA) Belgian promoters of a ban on kosher and halal slaughter of animals saw their bill defeated in Brussels, the seat of the European Union and the only region of Belgium where the practice is still legal. The vote Friday in the […]
(Brussels Times) Twelve recognised Diyanet mosques in Flanders, associated with the Turkish Ministry of Religious Affairs, must remain free of influence from Turkey if they wish to maintain their recognition, announced Flemish Minister for Coexistence Bart Somers. After a year-long stop in […]
(Breitbart) A Belgian court has confirmed the conviction for sexism handed down against Belgian Islamist Redouane Ahrouch over a television appearance in April of 2018. The Court of Cassation, the supreme court of the Belgian justice system, has confirmed the conviction against Mr Ahrouch, […]
(Brussels Times) Belgium is looking into whether it can bring back the wives of ISIS fighters from Syria, Het Laatste Nieuws reported. In 2021, six women and ten children were repatriated, but it is not clear how many people will meet the […]
(Brussels Times) The mayors of Molenbeek, Anderlecht, Schaerbeek and Saint-Josse-ten-Noode have forbidden a Flemish and a Dutch far-right politician, both known for their anti-immigrant stance, from visiting their municipalities on Friday. On 26 April, Flemish far-right Vlaams Belang politician Filip Dewinter announced […]
(Brussels Times) Just one in three terrorist suspects or convicts is effectively followed up by courts in Flanders as judges rarely impose deradicalisation counselling as a condition after the end of the sentence. Since 2018, 102 terrorism convicts have been released after […]
(AFP) The UK’s National Crime Agency announced Wednesday it had arrested the suspected leader of an international criminal operation supplying small boats to people smugglers taking migrants across the Channel. The numbers of migrants crossing the busy shipping lane from northern France […]
(Brussels Times) The prosecution on Friday requested prison sentences ranging from 1 to 2 years for four accused appearing before the Brussels Correctional Court for their supporting roles in the 2015 terror attacks in Paris. The prosecution called for a suspended sentence […]
(Reuters) Fourteen people went on trial in Belgium on Tuesday accused of helping a jihadist group that killed 130 people in the gun and bomb attacks across Paris in 2015. The 13 men and one woman are accused of supporting the self-avowed […]
(AFP) Fourteen people charged as accomplices to jihadists who carried out deadly bomb and gun attacks in Paris in 2015 will go on trial in Belgium from Tuesday. Proceedings will take place under high security in NATO’s former headquarters and are expected […]
(Radio France) The Paris attacks trial resumed on Tuesday with the interrogation of Mohammed Amri and Hamza Attou, the two men who admit driving to Paris on the morning after the 13 November 2015 killings to bring surviving terrorist Salah Abdeslam back […]
(Radio France) Two witnesses appeared on Thursday at the special criminal court in Paris, where 20 men are being tried for their alleged complicity in the November 2015 terrorist attacks that killed 130 people in and around Paris. Both the Belgian investigating […]
(Radio France) After last week’s striking reconstitution in sounds and images of the Bataclan massacre, the Paris special criminal court has moved on to consider the post-attack activities of the sole surviving perpetrator and his alleged accomplices. This week’s hearings have focused […]
(Brussels Times) Six years ago, it felt like extremist terrorism would haunt us permanently. The March 2016 bombs in the Brussels metro and airport left 35 people dead. They came after the November 2015 attacks in Paris that killed 138. Jihadists claimed […]
(Brussels Times) The Comité R responsible to monitor Belgium’s various police, security and intelligence agencies published its report earlier in the week outlining a series of recommendations to improve the surveillance of the activities of the Muslim Brotherhood in Belgium. The main […]
(Radio France) At the special criminal court in Paris, where those suspected of complicity in the November 2015 terrorist attacks are being tried, police on Thursday described the hours leading up to the atrocities that cost 131 people their lives. There were […]
(Radio France) Wednesday’s hearing at the Paris terror trial was devoted to the content of a computer found in a bin in Brussels. According to the Belgian police investigator who presented the evidence, it is clear that the November 2015 attacks were […]
(Brussels Times) Belgium paid tribute on Tuesday to victims of terrorist attacks, including those lost during the attacks that rocked the country six years ago in Brussels and Zaventem. On 22 March 2016, a double attack took place in Belgium, first at […]
(Radio France) The second day of Belgian police evidence at the Paris terror trial was very similar to Tuesday’s opening of this chapter on the preparations for the attacks, especially in the combination of DNA evidence suggesting the presence of several of […]
(Radio France) After an unscheduled two-week break provoked by cases of Covid-19 among the 14 accused, the Paris terror trial resumed on Tuesday with Belgian police evidence on the preliminary planning for the attacks — the efforts by the terrorists and their […]
(Brussels Times) More than 75 mosques in Flanders applied for recognition nearly three years ago, but have been kept waiting as the Muslim Executive “is not cooperating,” said Flemish Minister of Coexistence Bart Somers. Due to the lack of an effective recognition […]
(Brussels Times) Federal Justice Minister Vincent Van Quickenborne has decided to withdraw the recognition of the Muslim Executive — the official representation of Islam in Belgium — after the organisation has been under sustained criticism. The Muslim Executive receives approximately €600,000 in […]
(Brussels Times) On Wednesday, the Antwerp Court of Appeal ruled that a banner reading “Stop Islamisation” is not racist, as the court could not establish that it was motivated by “racism and xenophobia.” The judgement was in line with a decision of […]
(Brussels Times) Thirteen suspected members of a terrorist group were arrested in a major police operation in Antwerp on Tuesday morning. The suspects were alleged to have distributed jihadist propaganda, De Standaard reports. Nearly 100 investigators of the federal judicial police raided […]
(Brussels Times) About 500 people demonstrated on Saturday afternoon in Sint-Laureins, East Flanders, against a plan to set up a centre for asylum seekers in the Godshuis, a former monastery that has been empty for many years, Belga news agency reports. The […]
(Brussels Times) The deportation of a Moroccan national accused of spreading hate propaganda and being a “threat to Belgian society” is being blocked by the Council for Immigration Disputes. Analysis from OCAD (the Belgian intelligence body) and State Security describe Abdallah Ouahbour […]
(Politico) Belgian bans on the ritual slaughter of animals practiced by Jews and Muslims risk painting these minorities as “medieval” communities with no respect for animal life, the EU’s top official tasked with fighting anti-Semitism across Europe said. Since 2019, citing concerns […]
(VRT) VRT News has learnt that last October Belgian asylum and migration secretary Sammy Mahdi (Flemish Christian democrat) withdrew the residence rights of Mohamed Toujgani, the head imam at the Al Khalil Mosque in the Brussels borough of Molenbeek. Al Khalil is Belgium’s […]
(Anadolu) The Muslim community in Belgium will appeal at the European Court of Human Rights against the ban on ritual halal animal slaughtering. “The Belgian Muslim Executive and the Coordination Council of Islamic Institutions of Belgium will challenge at the European Court […]
(Radio France) Only two of the three witnesses called on Thursday actually gave evidence. Both were associates of the Abdeslam brothers at their café in Brussels. Both spoke by videolink from the federal police building in the Belgian capital. Neither had much […]
(Radio France) Tuesday’s session of the Paris attacks trial was dominated by a police report on the Clain family of jihadist extremists. The court also heard from the father of a dead terrorist, another man mystified by the transformation of … his […]
(Breitbart) Sammy Mahdi, Belgium’s secretary of state for asylum and migration, has stated that up to 70 per cent of “child” migrants submitted for age testing by the government turn out to be adults. Mahdi commented this week on the situation regarding […]
(Radio France) Wednesday’s session of the Paris terror trial was devoted to Belgian police evidence on the backgrounds of Abdellah Chouaa and Ali Oulkadi, two of the accused who are not in police custody and who sit near, but not inside, the […]
(AFP) The trial of 10 men accused of involvement in bombing attacks in Brussels that killed 32 people in 2016 will begin in October next year, a Belgian court said Wednesday. Six of the suspects, including French-Moroccan Salah Abdeslam, are already on […]
(Radio France) At the special criminal court in Paris where 20 men are being tried for their alleged involvement in the November 2015 terrorist killings, Tuesday’s hearing featured the resumption of Belgian police evidence from Brussels. The careers of two of the […]
(Radio France) This was another week of televised testimony from Belgian police investigators, with five of the accused still refusing to leave their cells in protest at the fact that the witnesses from Brussels are being allowed to testify anonymously. And then […]
(Radio France) If there is no doubt about the central part played in the November 2015 Paris terrorist attacks by Oussama Atar, the role of his brother, Yassine, remains much less clear. On Friday, a Belgian police officer presented as much evidence […]
(Radio France) The Paris attacks trial continued on Thursday with Belgian police giving evidence on the terrorist career of Oussama Atar, mastermind of the November 2015 murders that cost 131 people their lives. Atar himself is presumed dead in a coalition air […]
(Radio France) Wednesday, the 52nd day of the trial of 20 men suspected of involvement in the November 2015 Paris massacres, was devoted to Belgian police evidence, relaid by videolink from the office of the attorney general in Brussels. Four of the […]
(Radio France) The Paris attacks trial resumed on Tuesday with police evidence from Brussels on the background and Syrian activities of Mohamed Abrini. Abrini did not hear what was said about him, since he is one of five accused who continue to […]
(Radio France) The Paris special criminal court, where 20 men are being tried for their alleged participation in the November 2015 terrorist attacks in the French capital, this week heard evidence from an Austrian policeman in person, and from Belgian policemen via […]
(Radio France) The official aim of Friday’s session of the Paris attacks trial was to hear evidence from Belgian police investigators on the backgrounds of two of the dead terrorists and one other suspect. The hearing was, however, marked by the refusal […]
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