« Pakistan: Two Islamists Arrested - Suspected Al Qaeda Members |
| Indonesia: Islamic Cleric Denied Jail Reduction »
November 3, 2005
Belgium: Trial of Islamists Starts Today
A group of 18 men are to go on trial today in Belgium, states Findlaw. Most are suspected of involvement with the Islamist group Moroccan Islamic Combatant Group (GICM). This group is said to be behind a bombing in Casablanca, Morocco in 2003, which killed 45, and the train bombings of March 11 last year from Madrid, which killed 191. It was recently outlawed by the UK Home Secretary, Charles Clarke. The group has also been added to the US State Department's list last month, according to Voice of America.
The individuals are not charged with the Spanish and Moroccan attacks, but some are accused of providing terrorists with fake identity papers and shelter. The trial is the first to be made under new anti-terror laws which make it a crime to consort with terrorists.
The main suspect is Khalid Bouloudou, aged 30, who is said to be the Belgian coordinator of GICM. He was arrested in the Netherlands and extradited to Belgium. Boualoudou is a pastry-chef, and his wife has already featured in these pages for her refusal to either stop wearing a burka or pay the fines meted out for wearing the item, which is outlawed in the town of Maaseik, where she resides.
Reuters AlertNet claims the numbers standing trial are 13. Today's hearings are only preliminary, with the real trial commencing on November 16. The trials will be held in Brussels in the Palace of Justice.
Most of the suspects are of Moroccan or Belgians of Moroccan descent. Locally the case is known as the "Asparagus File" because some suspects come from a region famed for growing the vegetable. The trial is the third prominent anti-terror trial.
Last year four men were sentenced for involvement with plotting a terrorist attack or having links with al-Qaeda. Before that there was the case of Tunisian-born former professional footballer Nizar Trabelsi (pictured) who was convicted of planning to detonate a car bomb at Kleine brogel air base, which houses US soldiers. he was sentenced to 10 years' jail.
The BBC stated on todays 1pm TV News that 18 men were in the court. According to ADN Kronos there are 13 suspects on trial.
Some of the men on trial are also suspected of being in close contact with GICM's Dutch cell, which the Dutch-Moroccan Mohammed Bouyeri - now serving a life sentence for the murder one year ago of filmmaker Theo van Gogh - was allegedly a member.A 25 year old Moroccan called Mourad Chabarou is suspected of helping to provide material support, finance and shelter to one of the suspected Madrid train-bombers, and of trying to recruit insurgents for Iraq.One of the main suspects, Yussef Belhadj, who prosecuting magistrates allege speaks in a video for a group calling itself al-Qaeda in Europe that claimed responsibility for the Madrid attacks, has already been extradited to Spain in connection with these bombings, and will be tried in absentia.
Keywords: Burka, burqa,
Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at November 3, 2005 7:53 AM
Comments
Post a comment
Thanks for signing in, . Now you can comment. (sign out)
(If you haven't left a comment here before, you may need to be approved by the site owner before your comment will appear. Until then, it won't appear on the entry. Thanks for waiting.)