(MENAFN- Gulf Times) A Belgian court has ruled that the Islamist group Sharia4Belgium is a terrorist organisation, and sentenced its former spokesman Fouad Belkacem to 12 years in prison for leading the organisation, local media reported.
Belgium has been working to crack down on foreign fighters as it has Europe's highest proportion € relative to population size € of citizens departing to join Islamist groups in Syria and Iraq.
Sharia4Belgium effectively recruited young people for jihad, the court found, according to Belga news agency.
Unlike most other defendants in the trial, Belkacem, 32, did not fight in Syria, but Judge Luc Potargent said he was the driving force in the organisation.
Prosecutors had asked that he be sentenced to 15 years.
"It is clear that Belkacem ... prepared young people physically and psychologically for armed combat," Potargent said.
Belkacem initially refused to stand up as the judge read out the sentence, only rising with a big sigh after being told again by the two police officers seated beside him.
The court that all of the group's main figures, except for Belkacem, had gone to Syria in an apparent organised trip in August 2012.
Sharia4Belgium aims to overthrow democracy in Belgium by force and establish an Islamic state governed by Sharia law, the judge concluded, adding that the group had indoctrinated young people during lessons and physical training sessions at its Antwerp headquarters.
Evidence also included the group's website and YouTube channel, which distributed content in support of armed jihad and martyrdom, Belga reported.
A total of 46 people were charged in the Antwerp-based trial. Of these, 36 were tried in absentia.
Many of the defendants are believed to be in Syria or to have been killed.
The lead figures in the terrorist organisation € many of whom were not present € were also given sentences of 10 to 15 years and fines of up to ‚¬30,000 ($34,000), the court said in a statement.
Belkacem was also fined this amount.
Those considered to be active members of the group were given five-year prison sentences and fined ‚¬15,000, the court said, with two people receiving longer sentences due to their criminal past.
Just one defendant, identified by Belga as El Ouazna N, was acquitted.
She had been accused of financially supporting her son in Syria.
The Antwerp court ordered the immediate arrest of the absent defendants, believed to be in Syria, the news agency reported.
Those convicted can appeal the verdict. Investigations into the group began in February 2012, with 48 raids carried out across Belgium in April 2013.
The trial got underway in September.
Delivering his verdict, Judge Potargent detailed how Sharia4Belgium glorified armed struggle and called for the adoption of Islamic Sharia law by violent means.
Members of Sharia4Belgium not only went to fight with Al Qaeda's Syria wing, Jabhat al-Nusra, and organisations which later morphed into Islamic State in Syria but also went to Yemen, the judge said.
"The law doesn't state that terrorist attacks already have to be carried out to qualify a group as a terrorist organisation. They only have to have the intention to one day carry out such attacks," said Potargent.
Heightened security measures were put in place for yesterday's sentencing, which comes four weeks after a terrorist plot was foiled in Belgium.
Much of the prosecution case has relied on the testimony of 20-year-old Jejoen Bontinck, a member of Sharia4Belgium who made national headlines when his father went to Syria to convince him to return.
On Wednesday, Potargent gave Bontinck a 40-month suspended sentence.
Prosecutors had recommended he be jailed for four years but he finally received a much lighter sentence after providing evidence against his former fellow fighters
Sharia4Belgium rose to prominence in 2010 after a protest against a proposed ban on wearing the full-face Islamic burqa in public.
It found fertile ground for recruitment in Antwerp, Belgium's second biggest city, which has a large Muslim community, mainly from Turkey and Morocco, as well as one of Europe's biggest Jewish Orthodox communities.
Legal Disclaimer:
MENAFN provides the information “as is” without warranty of any kind. We do not accept any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information contained in this article. If you have any complaints or copyright issues related to this article, kindly contact the provider above.