Belgium strips six Moroccan jihadists of their citizenship

Six jihadists of Moroccan descent, who left for Syria to fight for ISIS, were stripped of their Belgian citizenship, Belgian news agency Belga wrote on Thursday.

A Belgian Appeal Court took the decision after the six men in question were convicted in absentia in 2015 for terrorism.

The six jihadists are «brothers Ali and Said El Morabit, Ilyass Boughalab, Bilal Elhamdaoui, Azdine Tahiri and Fouad Akrich. Some of them are believed to have died in Syria, but the fate of others remains unknown», the same source added.

It also explains that «the procedure was completed when authorities lost track of the six jihadists».

«The court decision was made public Thursday», concludes the news agency, adding that the six jihadists are believed to be part of the Sharia4Belgium group. In October 2018, the founder of this «terrorist organization» Fouad Belkacem was also stripped of his Belgian citizenship.

Fouad Belkacem was arrested on April 16, 2013, along with three other people, following an anti-terrorist investigation carried out in Belgium. He had been sentenced to twelve years in prison for contributing to the radicalization of several young people.