Belgian-Moroccan Extremist Kills Officer in Schaerbeek Attack: Known to Authorities

Born in 1990 in Belgium and living in Evere, Yassine Mahi is on the list of the Coordination Body for Threat Analysis (OCAM) as a "potentially dangerous extremist". The Belgian-Moroccan was incarcerated between 2013 and 2019 for common law offenses, including attempted violent theft. His first incarceration dates back to May 2013. In August 2015, he was added to the Extremism Cell (CelEx) list after embarking on the path of radicalization in prison. He will be placed in the Deradex section of the Ittre prison, reserved for hate preachers. In a ruling by the Council of State, it is stated that Yassine "is motivated by extreme religious beliefs and wants to share his ideology with other inmates".

Even incarcerated, the one whose brother is said to have gone to Syria continued to commit offenses, says Het Laaste Nieuws. Transferred to the Lantin prison on June 9, 2017, he assaults a guard in the high-security wing. His "extremist ideas" and his status as a "radicalized Muslim" lead the authorities to isolate him from other inmates. Another measure had also been taken: his incoming and outgoing mail is subject to the management, opened and read. "Contacts must be monitored in order to assess and mitigate risks to order and security," the Council of State ruling states.

Yassine serves his sentence and is released from prison in 2019. The deradicalization agencies, in particular the Local Task Force and CAPREV, the Center for Assistance and Support for Anyone Concerned by Radicalism and Violent Extremism, are responsible for following him. Since 2019, he has not committed any offense until last Thursday when he attacked a police patrol at a red light on rue d’Aerschot in Schaerbeek, shouting "Allahu Akbar". He stabbed the driver in the neck and the passenger in the right arm. In the wake of this, another patrol that came as reinforcement managed to neutralize the 32-year-old Belgian-Moroccan and take him to the hospital.

One of the attacked police officers succumbed to his injuries, while the other survived but is still in the hospital. Before committing this act, Yassine had gone to the police station in the Servaes Hoedemaekers square in Evere on Thursday morning, where he had declared: "I hate the police. I don’t want to do this, help me." Is this a premeditated act? Would his mental health be called into question? Only the investigation for "murder and attempted murder in a terrorist context" led by a specialized terrorism investigating judge will have to determine.