(Brussels Times) Federal defence minister Ludivine Dedonder (PS) has issued a formal refusal to consider a proposal from two N-VA MPs suggesting military personnel on street patrol be given more powers. The proposal comes from Theo Francken, formerly secretary of state for […]
(Brussels Times) Around 15,000 women in Belgium have been reported as victims of genital mutilation (FGM) and another 8,000 girls are still at risk, the Centre for Secular Action said on Friday, the eve of International Day of Zero Tolerance for Female […]
(Brussels Times) Iranian diplomat Assadollah Assadi, who has been convicted for his role in a foiled terrorist attack, was given a 20-year prison sentence by the criminal court in Antwerp on Thursday. The Vienna-based official plotted to bomb a rally of the […]
(Brussels Times) Ten of the thirteen suspects of the Brussels attacks of 22 March 2016 will be referred to the Court of Assizes, the Council Chamber of Brussels decided. The Court of Assizes deals with the most serious crimes. In this case, […]
(Brussels Times) The European Court of Justice (ECJ) in Luxembourg has upheld a ban by the Flemish government on animal slaughter without prior stunning. The court was responding to a request from Belgium’s Constitutional Court for a ruling on a point of […]
(Brussels Times) Hearings held to prepare for the mammoth trial of those accused of the March 2016 terrorist attacks are expected to end in Brussels today, earlier than expected. The hearings have been held in the new Justitia court site at the […]
(Brussels Times) Today sees the start of the trial of those accused of the terrorist attacks of 22 March 2016, which cost the lives of 32 people and injured 340 more. For the first time ever, the proceedings will take place in […]
(Brussels Times) Belgium’s Muslim Executive has responded angrily to accusations aired this week of Moroccan intelligence infiltration of the Great Mosque in Brussels. The mosque, in Cinquantenaire park in Brussels, had applied for recognition as a local faith community, after losing its […]
(Brussels Times) Federal justice minister Vincent Van Quickenborne (Open VLD) has declined to grant a new recognition to the Great Mosque in the Cinquantenaire park in Brussels, unless there is a change of management. The Great Mosque had its recognition as a […]
(Brussels Times) Fouad Akrich, a former jihadist fighter in Syria, has been transferred from Turkey to a prison in Belgium, De Morgen newspaper reported on Saturday. The Federal Office of the Public Prosecutor confirmed that Akrich was transferred on Tuesday. Early this […]
(Brussels Times) A court in Antwerp has sent a 24-year-old man back to jail for two years over a fake bomb threat sent out via Twitter last year. In October of last year, a man identified as Wildi E. sent out a […]
(Brussels Times) Flemish minister Zuhal Demir (N-VA) has said she is “relieved” at the arrest of a young man accused of sending her hate mail. The man, aged 24 and living in Demir’s home town of Genk in Limburg province, has admitted […]
(Brussels Times) The Limburg prosecutor’s office has begun an investigation into an alleged email threat made against Flemish mobility minister Zuhal Demir (N-VA). The threat came in an email addressed to Demir following recent comments she made in relation to mosques connected […]
(Brussels Times) The Brussels municipality of Molenbeek forbids the arrival of the Danish anti-Islam politician Rasmus Paludan, who had announced he would come to the commune for a Koran-burning protest. In August, a public burning of the Koran in an immigration neighbourhood […]
(Brussels Times) Belgian police arrested two minors, who were suspected of planning a terrorist attack against the police, in the area of Eupen in the Liège province last weekend. Searches took place in Eupen and La Calamine, both in the Liège province, […]
(Brussels Times) The Brussels-West police zone stopped a protest against a so-called “witch” in the municipality of Molenbeek, after a group of people came together to denounce his use of black magic. Approximately 30 people gathered in front of the practice of […]
(Brussels Times) Military patrols will be maintained on the streets of the country’s cities until 2 December at the earliest, the government has decided. In May this year, the caretaker administration of Sophie Wilmès took the decision to bring an end to […]
(Brussels Times) A teacher was suspended from a municipal primary school in Molenbeek, Brussels, after showing a cartoon depicting the prophet Mohammed naked. The teacher was teaching a class on civic spirit to sixth-grade pupils and passed around a tablet, reportedly asking […]
(Brussels Times) The terrorist threat level in Belgium remains unchanged after the knife attack in the French city of Nice on Thursday, according to the Coordinating Body for Threat Analysis (L’Organe de coordination pour l’analyse de la menace — OCAM) and the […]
(Brussels Times) Brussels police have removed a number of posters depicting cartoons of the prophet Mohammed in the past week, Bruzz reports. The posters featured cartoons drawn by the artist known as Charb for the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo. Charb, born […]
(Brussels Times) The terrorists who carried out the attacks at Brussels Airport and the Brussels metro in March 2016 were able to go about their business unhindered thanks to the “passive and active support” of many of the residents of the Brussels […]
(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 […]
(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 […]
(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 […]
(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 […]
(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 […]
(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) The number of Islamist attacks in Europe slightly decreased in 2019, according to a report delivered by the French terrorism assessment centre (CAT) highlighting the problems Islamic State (IS) has experienced since losing its self-proclaimed caliphate. “In 2019, the threat […]
(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. […]
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