Belgian court jails extremist recruiters for Syria

A Brussels court on Tuesday handed jail terms of up to seven years to 26 members of a group that recruited fighters for Syria and had included one of the suicide bombers responsible for the March 22 attacks in the Belgian capital.

The trial, which was held in February, concerned suspected extremists who left Belgium for Syria between 2012 and 2014. The accused were seen as participating in the activities of a terrorist group to varying degrees.

They received prison sentences from eight months to seven years, some which were suspended, the Belga news agency reported. The prosecution had sought jail sentences up to 15 years for some of the accused.

Convicted posthumously was Najim Laachraoui, one of the two suicide bombers who killed 16 people at Brussels airport on March 22, while another 16 perished in an attack the same day on the city’s metro.

Laachraoui who had left for Syria in early 2013 to fight with the ISIS group was also suspected of being the bomb maker for the Paris attacks in November last year that left 130 dead.

Four of the total 30 accused were released, including Mohamed Ben Ajiba, an imam in Brussels.

At the opening of the trial on February 15, the defendant considered by prosecutors as the main recruiter of extremists in Belgium, Khalid Zerkani, had his case separated from the others. He is currently in custody and expected to appear in court on May 18.