Counterterrorism Blog

The Belgium Government has just brought its first criminal action under new anti-terrorism legislation that makes it a criminal offense to be a member of a terrorist or terrorist support group. Formal charges were lodged August 29th against 13 Islamic extremists suspected of being members of the Moroccan Islamic Combatant Group (GICM). Trial has been scheduled for November before the Tribunal Correctional of Brussels. This will be the first test in criminal court of Belgium’s new Anti-Terrorism legislation.

The GICM emerged in the late 1990s as an important salafist terrorist group spread widely across Europe. Its membership draws from Moroccan recruits, many of whom trained along side al qaeda in armed camps in Afghanistan. They have reported established a number of cells in Europe and, at least until recently, considered Belgium as “safe harbor.” They are also believed to operate in the UK, Denmark, Egypt, Turkey, Morocco, Spain and France, and to deal in the trafficking of falsified documents and arms smuggling. The group was designated as an Al Qaeda support group by the UN Al Qaeda and Taliban Sanctions Committee following its implication in the March 11, 2004 Madrid bombings. The Group is also believed responsible for the May 19, 2003 bombings in Casablanca. But there is no indication that the 13 GICM members now under arrest were involved in either of these previous attacks. Belgian investigator had previously extradited Youssef Belhadj to Spain, where he was wanted on suspicion of being the al Qaeda spokesman who claimed responsibility for the Madrid bombings on a videotape in 2004.

Belgium had traditionally adopted a tolerant attitude toward the growing number of radical Islamic movements established there. The Belgian authorities sought to keep close tabs on these groups, but choose not to interfere with their activities so long as no Belgian laws were broken. In fact, Belgium only passed its first specific anti terrorism legislation in December 2003 to bring it in line with EU rules and standards. Following Madrid, and growing indications that GICM members in Belgium were directly implicated in the terrorist attack, the Belgian Prosecutors Office began to use this new legislation to tighten restrictions and oversight over these groups. These measures were further strengthened following the July 7, 2005 London bombings.

Those charged now include 4 Belgian residents of Moroccan descent believed to led the local Belgian cells. They include Abdelkader Hakimi (39), Lahoussine El Haski (29), Mostafa Lounani (41) et Abdallah Ouahbour (31). Belgian Federal Prosecutor Ann Fransen told the Brussels Court that her office had substantial evidence that the GICM was recruiting locally for suicide bombing attacks in Iraq, and perhaps elsewhere in Europe. In addition to its recruitment activities GICM Belgium has also been involved in providing support funding and logistics for GICM and related group activities. This included forging passports and other documents, and raising funds via credit card and other fraud schemes.

The Belgian Anti-Terrorism law covers "anyone who participates in an activity of a terrorist group, including by providing information or material resources to that group or through any form of financing of a terrorist group's activity, in the knowledge that such participation aids the commission of an offence." The penalties for leading a terrorist group are more severe than those incurred for "mere" participation. The law defines a terrorist group as "an organised association of more than two people, established on a lasting basis and taking concerted action with a view to the commission of terrorist offences…” It goes on, however, to clarify that "organisation whose real purpose is solely of a political, trade union or philanthropic, philosophical or religious nature, or which solely pursues any other legitimate aim, cannot, as such, be considered a terrorist group."