(Brussels Times) The Swedish government published on Friday the directives for an inquiry to review the Public Order Act and the possibility to limit public gatherings and demonstrations that might pose a threat to its security. The directives were first announced in […]
(Brussels Times) The greatest threat of terrorism continues to come from individuals inspired by Islamist extremism, often referred to as jihadism ideology. However, violence from right-wing extremists can also not be ruled out. Last year, there were 215 threat reports related to […]
(Brussels Times) After 19 days of deliberations (the longest deliberation ever at an Assize trial in Belgium), the jury will publicly announce its verdict at the trial on the March 2016 Brussels terror attacks at 16:30 on Tuesday. In early July, the […]
(Brussels Times) Today (Thursday) is the last day of the Brussels terror attacks trial before the jury will deliberate whether the accused men are guilty and on what counts. In early December, the trial on the 2016 terror attacks at Brussels Airport […]
(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 […]
(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 […]
(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 […]
(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, […]
(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 […]
(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, […]
(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 […]
(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 […]
(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, […]
(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 […]
(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 […]
(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, […]
(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. […]
(Brussels Times) The daily body searches that defendants had to undergo at the 22 March 2016 terror trial are now banned, the Brussels interim relief judge has ruled. The information, shared by VRT Nieuws, was confirmed to Belga News Agency on Thursday […]
(Brussels Times) The questioning of investigators at the Brussels Assise Court, charged with judging the attacks of 22 March 2016, came to a close on Thursday evening with a single question from Mr. Xavier Carrette, attorney for Ibrahim Farisi. Earlier, investigation coordinator […]
(Brussels Times) Sebastien Courtoy, lawyer for Smail Farisi, argued in the Brussels Court of Assizes on Thursday that Oussama Atar, who led the terrorist cell responsible for the 22 March 2016 attacks from Syria, had been released by the authorities to become […]
(Brussels Times) The defence team of Salah Abdeslam took the floor at the Brussels Assise Court on Tuesday afternoon to question investigators and examining magistrates about their investigation into the Brussels attacks of 22 March 2016. In her first questions to the […]
(Brussels Times) Sofien Ayari has continually maintained during hearings on the March 2016 terror attacks and the shooting in the Rue du Dries in Forest that he did not feel involved in the attacks in Paris and Brussels and that “committing stuff […]
(Brussels Times) A young woman from the municipality of Vilvoorde, just north of Brussels, has been acquitted of terrorism by the Brussels Court of Appeal, which overruled her previous four-year prison sentence for participating in the activities of a terrorist group. The […]
(Brussels Times) Defendant Hervé Bayingana Muhirwa gradually became interested in radicalism after converting to Islam in 2011, according to information presented by examining magistrates and investigators on Tuesday at the Brussels Assize Court, in charge of judging the attacks committed in the […]
(Brussels Times) Throughout his 15 hearings and interrogations, terror accused Osama Krayem presented himself as a convinced adherent of the Islamic State (ISIS) terrorist group who did not, however, endorse all its actions. He maintained that he had not participated in making […]
(Brussels Times) The roles of Hervé Bayingana Muhirwa, Ibrahim Farisi and Sofien Ayari will be explained on Tuesday at the assize court charged with trying the men accused of involvement in the 22 March 2016 Brussels terror attacks. Investigators are also slowly […]
(Brussels Times) The Brussels Court of Assizes, which is currently presiding over the trial of suspects involved in the Brussels terror attacks at the Maelbeek metro station and Zaventem Airport, listened to the testimony of an expert who was able to trace […]
(Brussels Times) One of the accused in the trial of the 22 March 2016 terror attacks in Brussels, Salah Abdeslam, stated that he would remain in his cell until the verdict is passed following an earlier complaint in which he claimed he […]
(Brussels Times) One of the terror suspects currently standing trial for the 2016 Brussels bombings, Salah Abdeslam stated on Wednesday that he was beaten by police officers during his transfer to the courtroom. His lawyer revealed that the inside of her client’s […]
(Brussels Times) Hassan Iquioussen, the Moroccan imam accused by French authorities of spreading hate, was sent back to Morocco on Friday, Belgium’s state secretary for asylum and migration, Nicole de Moor, reported. Iquioussen had fled to Belgium in summer after France decided […]
(Brussels Times) A 29-year-old Belgian woman convicted of terrorism and released on parole was arrested on 4 January in Budapest while on her way to Turkey, according to a report in Het Laatste Nieuws, confirmed by the federal prosecutor’s office. One of […]
(Brussels Times) On Saturday, the FPS Justice announced that they would be appealing a recent ruling that banned the daily strip searches, which the defendants on trial for the Brussels terror attacks were forced to endure. This appeal is said to have […]
(Brussels Times) One of the accused men in the trial on the 22 March 2016 terror attacks in Brussels, Mohamed Abrini, wanted to cause trouble and hide a knife, according to the risk assessment that the police relied on for the much-discussed […]
(Brussels Times) Uncertainty about whether those standing trial for their role in the 22 March 2016 terror attacks in Brussels should be subject to systematic strip searches has been cleared up as the Federal Police chief stated that any nude search must […]
(Brussels Times) Suspect Mohamed Abrini on Friday deemed the Brussels bombing trial a farce and threatened to stop cooperating if the conditions of his transfer from prison to the courthouse do not change. “I don’t even know what to say anymore. All […]
(Brussels Times) Seven new civil parties came forward on Wednesday, following the resumption of the Brussels bombing trial, bringing the total to 1,070. On Tuesday, 111 new civil parties had registered, joining 957 others who had previously come forward. The Brussels Assise […]
(Brussels Times) Defendant Mohamed Abrini issued a complaint via his attorney Laura Pinilla, when the Brussels bombing trial resumed on Thursday afternoon. Abrini was unable to take notes on the testimony given during the morning session, Pinilla reported, because, for security reasons, […]
Thank you for reading Eye on Islamism.