Belgian Court Sentences ISIS Fighter to 5 Years, May Strip Citizenship

The federal prosecutor’s office requested five years in prison, a fine of 8,000 euros and the deprivation of Belgian nationality for Saïda El Mimouni, currently in Syria with her two children. The court will deliver its judgment on February 25.

The fighter was the companion of Rachid Iba, a member of Sharia4Belgium. The federal prosecutor’s office argues that Saïda El Mimouni would have taken the path to Syria on March 8, 2013, taking her son with her. According to the same source, the couple pledged allegiance to Majlis Shura Al-Mujahideen, then to the terrorist group Islamic State.

Back in Belgium at the end of 2014, Saïda El Mimouni gave birth to her second son in January 2015, before joining Syria again two months later via Poland and Ukraine.

For now, her companion has not given any sign of life. However, a marriage contract, validated by an Islamic State judge and found by the troops of the international coalition, certifies that Saïda El Mimouni has been married since May 2017 to a Tunisian fighter. This document is also proof that Rachid Iba, sentenced to eight years in prison in the 2015 trial against Sharia4Belgium in Antwerp, would already be deceased.