Belgium-Born ISIS Fighter Arrested in Turkey After Losing Citizenship

They were a total of six Moroccan jihadists, militants of the Sharia4Belgium organization, to suffer the rejection of the Belgian authorities. Indeed, convicted in absentia in 2015, brothers Ali and Said El Morabit, Ilyass Boughalab, Bilal Elhamdaoui, Azdine Tahiri and Fouad Akrich were ultimately stripped of their Belgian nationality. A court decision made public on Thursday by several newspapers.

The information is making headlines in several Belgian media outlets, including De Morgen, Het Laatste Nieuws and De Standaard, which report that some of these men may have died in Syria, while others have not given any sign of life for years.

The surprise came from Turkey, which managed to apprehend Fouad Akrich. According to the Belgian media 7sur7.be, the terrorist was arrested on December 24 in Turkey, along with his Dutch wife and their three children.

A member of Sharia4Belgium, which promotes jihadism in Belgium, Fouad Akrich, who had also been stripped of his Belgian nationality, could still appeal this decision of the Belgian judicial authorities, specifies the same source.