Belgium denies political asylum for a Moroccan woman accused of terrorism

The Council for Alien Law Litigation denied political asylum for Moroccan national Malika El Aroud, nicknamed «Jihad’s black widow», reports Belgian newspaper Laatste Nieuws.

The woman appealed against the decision, stressing that she might be tortured and illtreated when extradited to Morocco. Held in a center in Bruges (Belgium), El Aroud served an eight-year sentence for financing a terrorist organization in 2002 and for recruiting fighters in the favor of the same group.

The process of depriving her from the Belgian citizenship started in 2014. Refusing to reconsider her Salafist positions, the Brussels court upheld this decision.

Widow of a jihadist, Malika El Aroud was stripped of her Belgian citizenship on November the 30th, 2017. On October the 11th, she was arrested at her place and is expected to be deported to Morocco. Hoping to delay the decision, she applied for asylum.

According to Le Soir, the national believes that she might be subjected to torture and ill-treatment in Morocco. The same source, however, reports that the Council for Alien Law Litigation refused the «urgency» of her application.