The Liège Appeal Court on Tuesday sentenced 35-year-old Noureddine Hamecha, who participated in the activities of a terrorist group, to 17 years in prison and stripped him of his Belgian nationality. The Liège resident had been sentenced by a lower court to 10 years in prison and the loss of his nationality but had appealed against the sentence. The Appeal court increased the jail term to 17 years and upheld the stripping of his Belgian nationality because he had shown through his illegal activities his rejection of the values of a democratic state.
Hamecha had been arrested in early summer of 2016. He confessed to being an ISIS sympathiser and to trying to reach Syria on three occasions.
The investigation showed that he made many trips to European countries and was in contact with radicalised individuals. He was active in the recruitment of women, in promoting for ISIS, and in supplying counterfeited documents.
Hamecha, born to Algerian parents, acquired Belgian nationality through his father, who was naturalised after arriving in Belgium.
The Brussels Times
