Belgium Moves to Deport ’Black Widow of Jihad’ to Morocco After Court Ruling

"The judges ruled that she (Malika El Aroud, ed.), who was deprived of her Belgian nationality, had not demonstrated that her return to Morocco would expose her to a risk of torture or inhuman or degrading treatment. Thus, the judges concluded that she could be removed to her country of origin," says the website Lalibre.be, noting that the same Council had, in another ruling dated January, confirmed that Malika El Aroud could not claim refugee status and subsidiary protection status.

In addition, the potential interference in private or family life that such a ruling could cause was also examined by the Council. The verdict, according to the same source: "it has not been proven that Malika El Aroud had a private life in Belgium. She has no other family there than her daughter, now of age."

Malika El Aroud, 60, has only Moroccan nationality because she was, in November 2017, deprived of her Belgian nationality, following a decision of the Brussels Court of Appeal and this, "for having seriously failed in her duties as a Belgian citizen".

Let us recall that Malika El Aroud was sentenced to eight years in prison for participating in the activities of a terrorist group affiliated with Al Qaeda. She would have organized, with her husband, Moez Garsallaoui, a pipeline for sending jihadist fighters to Afghanistan from Belgium. She was again arrested on October 11, 2018 with a view to her expulsion. Her lawyer had requested political asylum, which was refused, then he filed a request with the Council for Alien Law Litigation, speaking of a possible exposure to torture or inhuman and degrading treatment if El Aroud was returned to Morocco. Refused also...

The term "fiancée of the jihadists" comes from the fact that she had, before Garsallaoui, been married to Dahmane Abd el-Sattar, another jihadist. She had even joined him in Afghanistan.