Since 2009, four people convicted of terrorism have been deprived of their Belgian nationality, according to numbers released by Justice Minister Koen Geens in response to a question by CD&V Nahima Lanjri. They are a Tunisian, a Moroccan, an Algerian born in Tunisia and a person of Moroccan origin, the newspapers Het Belang van Limburg and Gazet van Antwerpen reported on Tuesday.
Deprivation of nationality in criminal matters does not occur very often although the law has been tough on several occasions in recent years. "Along with these four cases of nationality forfeiture due to terrorism, eight cases involve fraud", Lanjri said.
The political reactions were numerous on Monday after the announcement of the marriage of Fouad Belkacem to a Belgian national of Moroccan origin a few weeks ago in the prison of Hasselt. While a procedure of deprivation of nationality against him has been in progress for several months, this marriage could indeed allow the Belgo-Moroccan to avoid losing his Belgian nationality and being sent back to Morocco.
The Brussels Times
