Belgium Tightens Citizenship Laws as Controversial Imam Returns, Sparking National Security Debate

On Thursday, the Minister of Justice, Annelies Verlinden (CD&V), announced during a plenary session of the Chamber that a law will be proposed to strengthen the legislation on the granting and withdrawal of Belgian nationality. "We will work on strengthened legislation," she said in response to questions from right-wing deputies Jeroen Bergers (N-VA), Georges-Louis Bouchez (MR) and Alexander Van Hoecke (Vlaams Belang) following the return to Belgium of Imam Mohamed Toujgani.

Mohamed Toujgani arrived on Monday evening at Brussels-National airport where a welcoming committee was waiting for him, reported RTBF on Tuesday. Accused of radicalism and espionage in favor of Morocco by the Belgian authorities, the former imam of the Al Khalil mosque in Molenbeek, the largest mosque in Belgium, had received, three years ago, an order to leave the territory. His supporters consider him rather as a moderate conservative.

The Belgian justice system had ruled in 2021 that Mohamed Toujgani did not represent a threat to national security and that he could obtain Belgian nationality. A decision confirmed on appeal. Hence the return of the Moroccan imam. The Belgian authorities refuse to comment on this news.