No release for terror suspects

25 March 2004

BRUSSELS – Four men arrested in Belgium last week on suspicion of supporting Islamic terror groups will remain in police custody for the time being, a Belgian judge has confirmed.

The four men – named in the Thursday edition of Belgium’s La Derniere Heure newspaper as Abdelkhader Hakimi, Abdelhak Ouadour, Mustapha Lounani and Youssef Belhadi – are all suspected of supporting an organisation called the Moroccan Islamic Combatants’ Group (MICG).

The Belgian authorities believe the men also have links with Al Qaeda and that they helped Moroccan fighters trained by Osama Bin Laden’s terrorist network to enter Europe.

The four deny all of the charges against them.

Hakimi is also wanted by the Moroccan authorities in connection with a series of bomb attacks that rocked Casablanca last May, killing 45 people.

The Belgian authorities have not yet said whether they will agree to Rabat’s request to extradite him however.

According to judicial sources cited in La Derniere Heure, Belgian prosecutors are now “almost certain” that Hakimi has links with Khalid Bouloudou, a Belgian citizen of Moroccan origin currently being held in custody in the Netherlands.

The Moroccan authorities have also asked for Bouloudou to be extradited in connection with the Casablanca attacks.

Subject: Belgian news