Controversial Imam Returns to Belgium: National Security Debate Reignites

The information is reported on Tuesday by the RTBF on its website. Mohamed Toujgani arrived on Monday evening at Brussels-National airport where a welcoming committee was waiting for him, informs the Belgian media.

Accused of radicalism and espionage for the benefit 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.

According to his supporters, the Moroccan-born imam who had been living in Belgium since the 1980s is not a radical, but rather 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.

For their part, the Belgian authorities refrain from any comment on the return of the Moroccan imam.