BRUSSELS: A Belgian court yesterday ordered that 46 suspected members of a radical Islamist group, believed to be involved in sending young fighters to Syria, stand trial later this year.
Sixteen people alleged to be part of Sharia4Belgium, including its head Fouad Belkacem, face charges of leading a terrorist organisation, the federal justice office said.
The remaining 30 will be tried on charges of belonging to Sharia4Belgium, it said.
However, only eight of the 46 ordered to face trial are currently in Belgium, scene last month of an attack at a Jewish museum in Brussels that left four people dead and shocked the country.
The others are believed to be in Syria where some of them may have been killed, the federal justice office said.
“The trial is likely to take place in September, at the earliest,” a judiciary spokesman was quoted as saying by the Belga news agency.
Sharia4Belgium, based in the northern port city of Antwerp, campaigned for the introduction of Sharia Islamic law in the country.
EU should share out rescued refugees: UNHCR
ROME: European Union countries should help Italy absorb the huge number of migrants arriving by boat from North Africa, by agreeing to take in people rescued in international waters, a UN refugee agency spokeswoman said yesterday.
The EU law governing asylum seekers — the Dublin Regulation — requires the country where a person first arrives to handle their application, putting extra pressure on countries, like Italy, on the EU’s outer edge to take in migrants.
But those rescued in international waters could be taken in by any EU country, perhaps according to a negotiated quota system, said Carlotta Sami, southern Europe’s spokeswoman for the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
“This is particularly needed in the case of Syrians, but could be also (done) for other nationalities that in this moment represent very vulnerable groups,” she said.
Agencies
