Belgian Official’s Last-Minute Deportation of Convicted Cop Killer Sparks Controversy

The title chosen by RTL.Be says a lot: "Just before his departure, Theo Francken expelled to Morocco the murderer of Kitty, a young policewoman: yet he was born in Belgium". Indeed, Hassan Iasir, 42, although of Moroccan origin, was born in Belgium and has lived there all his life.

According to Fabian Lauvaux, Iasir’s lawyer, this decision, taken on December 9th, would be purely related to the electoral campaign of the N-VA, the Nieuw-Vlaamse Alliantie, Francken’s political party. He states: "This decision taken at the last minute seems to me to be for political purposes". For him, this expulsion is unacceptable and surreal. The lawyer has appealed.

Iasir, along with two other people who were also sentenced to 30 years in prison in 2011, had coldly shot the 23-year-old policewoman while she was on patrol with one of her colleagues. Death followed. Her colleague also suffered serious injuries but managed to avoid death.

The man has a heavy criminal record, with more than 40 offenses between 1996 and 2006, many of them involving the use of a weapon.