Controversy has erupted in Belgium as the former leader of an Islamic terrorist organization that shook Belgian society in the early 2010s applied for asylum ahead of his release from prison.

According to The Brussels Times on October 2, Fouad Belkacem, a 44-year-old Moroccan national who led the Islamic terrorist group Sharia4Belgium and is currently imprisoned, recently requested refugee status from the Belgian government ahead of the expiration of his sentence next May.

Born in Belgium, Belkacem founded the terrorist group Sharia4Belgium and was sentenced to 12 years in prison in 2015 for charges including indoctrinating young Belgian Muslims with extremist ideology, encouraging them to participate in armed struggle in Syria, and attempting to subvert Belgian society. He is currently serving his sentence.

Because he was stripped of his Belgian citizenship in 2018 in the wake of his conviction, he should in principle be deported to Morocco upon his release next year. However, he fears being sent back to Morocco and wishes to remain in Belgium.

Annelies Verlinden, Minister of Migration and belonging to the ruling nationalist New Flemish Alliance (N-VA), which takes a hard line on refugees, expressed her desire to mobilize all possible means to expel Belkacem from Belgium. At the same time, she noted that the handling of his custody must first undergo independent review by the Office of the Commissioner General for Refugees and Stateless Persons (CGRS).

Francesca Van Belleghem, a lawmaker from the far-right party Vlaams Belang (VB), which is hostile to accepting refugees, told Dutch-language public broadcaster VRT News, "I heard that Morocco does not want to take him," but argued that deportation is a matter of course, stating that legally, Morocco's willingness has nothing to do with whether Belkacem is deported.

It is explained that because the terrorist organization led by Belkacem planned terrorist attacks in Belgium and Europe, and he incited them, it will not be easy for him to be granted asylum in Belgium.

However, legal experts have predicted that although he committed a serious crime, his model behavior in prison and his personal situation—having four children with a Belgian-national wife—could influence whether his asylum application is accepted.

Belkacem married from behind bars around 2017 while serving his sentence, and it was speculated at the time that this move was intended to avoid future deportation to Morocco.

Sylvie Sarolea, a professor at the Catholic University of Louvain, predicted that authorities will ultimately make a decision regarding his custody by comprehensively considering human rights factors such as Belkacem's ties to Belgium and family relationships, as well as the risks he might pose by remaining in Belgian society after his release.

Meanwhile, in March 2016, the year following the sentencing of Belkacem and others, Belgium suffered a tragedy in which three members of the extremist militant group Islamic State (IS) carried out suicide bombings at Brussels Zaventem Airport and Maalbeek metro station in the city center, leaving 32 people dead and 340 injured.

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