Tag Archives: belgium

A court remanded Mehdi Nemmouche, a French-Algerian jihadist suspected in the killing of four people at a Jewish museum in Brussels, to a month in custody after charging him with “murder in a terrorist context.” Authorities are continuing their investigation of the suspect, who spent over a year fighting in the ranks of the Islamic […]

Authorities have announced the arrest of a 25-year-old Syrian man who arrived at Charleroi Airport in Brussels with two false French passports and a USB stick with video of jihadist killings and propaganda. The man was arrested on Aug. 1 on suspicion of belonging to the Al Nusrah Front; his lawyer claimed the suspect was […]

Of the 66 Belgians known to be in Libya, seven left on aboard a Greek ship, 10 told the Belgian Embassy they wanted to leave, and 50 dual nationals prefer to remain in the troubled country. Last month Luxembourg police working with Spanish counterterrorism authorities arrested Belgian national Abou Nouh a.k.a. Davide De Angelis, a […]

Mehdi Nemmouche, a Frenchman accused of killing four people in an attack at the Jewish Museum in Brussels on May 24, has been extradited from France to Belgium. The French-Algerian suspect had fought in Syria and lived in Molenbeek before the attack. The mayor of Antwerp said that at least 4,000 to 5,000 people from […]

A court ordered 46 members of Sharia4Belgium to face trial on terrorism charges, including the group’s leader, Fouad Belkacem, and 15 other top operatives. Only eight of the 46 are currently in Belgium; the other 38 are thought to have gone to Syria. The outlawed group Sharia4Belgium was reportedly dissolved in 2012 but authorities believe […]

A gunman opened fire on visitors at a Jewish museum in Brussels, killing two women and a man, and seriously injuring a fourth victim, before fleeing in a car with another person. Twelve other people were hospitalized for shock following the incident. An election truck belonging to a nationalist politician was gutted in a suspected […]

Authorities confirmed that four young women left the cities of Antwerp and Sint Niklaas in March for Syria, ostensibly to provide humanitarian aid relief. One of the women has reportedly informed her family that she got married after arriving in Syria.

Belgium raised its terror alert level to “high” as a result of the planned visit of US President Barack Obama and visits by other dignitaries between March 20 and April 3 for the European Union’s summit on Africa. A Belgian security official said no threats have been perceived and that the heightened alert is “the […]

Terrorist threats were made against targets in Brussels and Antwerp, including Antwerp’s Central Station and the Atomium monument in Brussels, warning Muslims to avoid revelers on New Year’s Eve. The threats were reportedly issued on the Facebook account of a Vilvoorde member of the banned Sharia4Belgium organization who is thought to have died in Syria.

Belgium said it was “not favourable” to having Syrian chemical weapons destroyed on its soil, but that it would help to make an inventory of the weapons. In recent weeks, politicians and the Belgian royal family have received email death threats and bomb warnings that appear to come from Islamists. Two of the targeted politicians […]

Prosecutors said Antwerp University was evacuated on Oct. 28 because of emails to faculty from a sender linked to a Muslim brotherhood who threatened to kill all unbelievers in Belgium. Last week a possibly related video surfaced, purportedly from Belgian jihadists in Syria. Suspected jihadist Jejoen Bontinck, who was recently arrested at his home in […]

Authorities charged Jejoen Bontinck, a Belgian citizen and Muslim convert, for belonging to a terrorist group. Bontinck, who recently arrived in Belgium from Syria, is believed to have been recruited by the banned group Sharia4Belgium to fight with jihadists in Syria. His father, a former Belgian army officer, traveled twice to Syria to find him.

Six suspects have been arrested after rioting in the city of Houthalen in Limburg that injured a police officer. Police arrested notorious Somali pirate leader Mohammed Abdi Hassan a.k.a. Afweyne (“Loud Mouth”) at Brussels airport upon arrival in Belgium; he and a high-ranking official in the Somali government, which is accused of protecting him, have […]

Belgian police in Vilvoorde arrested Ismail Abdelatif Al Lal, a top financier for an al Qaeda-linked network based in Spain that sent Spanish and Moroccan jihadists to Syria. The head of the recruiting network was arrested on Sept. 16 in the Spanish enclave of Ceuta, and eight other members were arrested in Ceuta in June.

Muslim activist Abou Jahjah announced his intention to return to Belgium after living in Lebanon for nearly 10 years. A leading Antwerp politician called for Jahjah to be arrested on his return, citing his links to Hezbollah and the fact that the UK has denied him entry.

Authorities in the Flemish cities of Antwerp and Vilvoorde discontinued welfare benefits for some 29 Belgian jihadists in Syria. The authorities had found that the jihadists were accessing their government benefits through banks in Turkey. In April the federal prosecutor’s office said it was aware that 33 persons from Antwerp and Vilvoorde had traveled to […]

An investigation into allegations of abuse by female teachers at an Antwerp primary school has reportedly found that the claims were baseless and part of a hate campaign led by a former member of the banned Islamist group Sharia4Belgium. The mayor of Antwerp said last month that 22 Islamists from Antwerp with ties to Sharia4Belgium […]