Belgium's Foreigners' Claims Council, CCE, has blocked the expulsion to Morocco of another Moroccan citizen recently convicted of participation in the activities of a terrorist group, Sudpresse, Het Laatste Nieuws and De Morgen dailies reported on Monday. The CCE, an independent administrative court that can hear appeals against the decisions of bodies dealing with immigrants, refugees and stateless persons, found that the national immigration service, l’Office des Etrangers, had not sufficiently verified that Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights would be respected in the event of an expulsion. That article prohibits torture and inhuman or degrading treatment.
This is the third expulsion to Morocco to have been blocked for the same reason. It concerns a Moroccan living in Belgium for more than 10 years who was convicted of participation in the activities of a terrorist group in 2017 and freed after serving his sentence. In the meantime, he lost his residence permit and was to have been expelled to Morocco, Sudpresse wrote.
Secretary of State for Asylum and Migration Theo Francken will travel to the North African country on Tuesday, along with Foreign Minister Didier Reynders and Interior Minister Jan Jambon. “We shall raise this problem there with the Moroccan authorities,” Francken said. “We have developed excellent and respectful relations with them in security matters. A bilateral discussion is scheduled for Wednesday.”
The Brussels Times
