Belgium: Jihad Mega-Trial Begins

[Valin]

Gatestone Institute:

Soeren Kern

October 6, 2014

 

"If you want to land in hell like all unbelievers that is your problem. ... We do not have an ounce of respect for you, infidels, nor for the way you live. Our religion and way of life are superior to yours." — Fouad Belkacem.

 

Belkacem called for violence against the West and said that becoming a jihadist was the greatest act of submission to Allah.

 

Belgium's largest-ever terrorism trial has begun under tight security in the port city of Antwerp, where 46 members of the Islamist group Sharia4Belgium are being accused of recruiting dozens of young Muslims to fight for the jihadist group, Islamic State.

 

Sharia4Belgium, a radical Salafist group, was founded in 2010 with the purpose of implementing Islamic Sharia law in Belgium. The group generated controversy in September 2011, when it announced the opening of a Sharia Law court in Antwerp, the second-largest city in Belgium.

 

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Sixteen of the 46 defendants are charged with being leaders of Sharia4Belgium and face up to 15 years in prison, as well as fines of €30,000 ($38,000). The other 30 are charged with being members of the group and face sentences ranging from 12 months on probation to ten years in prison.

 

Only nine of the accused have appeared in court, however; the rest are believed either to be still fighting in Syria or to have been killed.

 

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[Valin]

Belgium Proves Vital Jihadist Recruiting Hub

Matthew Hilburn

Tuesday, 07 October 2014

 

This week, the trial of dozens of Sharia4Belgium members began in the Belgian city of Antwerp, ground zero of a very successful effort to recruit jihadists.

The extremist group is a big reason why Belgium has the largest per capita number of fighters of any Western European country in Syria, according to the International Center for the Study of Radicalisation.

 

Everything is apparently better than Belgium, wrote Fouad Belkacem, the imprisoned leader of the disbanded Islamist group, in a statement posted to Facebook in 2013.

It was a sentiment apparently shared by an estimated 300 to 400 Belgian Muslims who have reportedly made their way to Syria to fight.

And Belgian fighters have been involved in some of the most high profile events unfolding in Syria.

 

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