Former Sharia4Belgium leader Fouad Belkacem seeks asylum in Belgium to prevent Morocco deportation

Asylum application from prison

Fouad Belkacem, the 44-year-old founder and former leader of the terrorist organisation Sharia4Belgium, has submitted an application for international protection in Belgium from his prison cell. Belkacem was sentenced by an Antwerp court in February 2015 to 12 years in prison after judges found him guilty of recruiting youth for armed conflict in Syria and Iraq through ideological indoctrination, compulsory lectures, and physical training. Having served over 12 years in custody, his prison sentence is scheduled to conclude in early 2027. Belkacem was born in Rumst and raised in Boom, but Belgian judicial authorities revoked his Belgian citizenship in 2018 under a 2015 statute allowing stripping of nationality for terror offenses carrying terms of five years or more. Because he retains Moroccan nationality inherited from his parents, the Belgian state intends to expel him to Morocco upon his release. Assisted by attorney Seno Devriendt, Belkacem filed for asylum to prevent his transfer abroad.

Government reaction and procedural reforms

News of the asylum request emerged after Vlaams Belang lawmaker Francesca Van Belleghem raised inquiries with immigration authorities. In response, Minister for Asylum and Migration Anneleen Van Bossuyt announced that she will use all legal mechanisms available to secure Belkacem's removal from Belgian territory. Van Bossuyt confirmed that the Office of the Commissioner General for Refugees and Stateless Persons (CGVS) is reviewing the file with absolute priority. The minister also stated that the government will soon introduce a legislative package to prevent procedural abuse by barring or tightening asylum claims submitted from prisons and closed expulsion centres.

Anneleen Van Bossuyt argued that individuals who seek to undermine the democratic order cannot claim residency rights:

“Whoever turns against our society and wants to replace our democracy with sharia has no business here.”

Grounds for protection and security exclusions

CGVS officials conducted a preliminary interview with Belkacem in late September 2026. Belkacem's legal defense may cite past anti-regime activism against Morocco, including an Arab Spring demonstration in Brussels where he publicly cursed the Moroccan government and its monarchy, remarks that circulated widely across Moroccan media. Belkacem also reportedly told a Moroccan consul that Taliban founder Mullah Omar was the only legitimate pious ruler. However, refugee law permits authorities to deny asylum if an applicant poses a persistent threat to public order or state security.

Human rights attorney Kati Verstrepen noted the legal criteria facing the asylum commission:

“The CGVS must assess whether those facts from more than ten years ago still entail a real risk of persecution. But if he still poses a threat to public order or national security here, they can exclude him from protection.”

Legal avenues and repatriation challenges

Belkacem's family, including his Belgian wife and three children, currently resides in Belgium. If the CGVS rejects his asylum request, Belkacem could seek residency through a family reunification procedure with the Immigration Office, though that agency also holds the right to deny residency on public order grounds. Belgian legal precedent established by the justice ministry in 2017 confirms that marriage to a Belgian national does not prevent deportation. Opposition politicians have pointed to previous repatriation difficulties, citing convicted terrorist Nizar Trabelsi, who remains in irregular residence in Belgium a year after failed efforts to return him to Tunisia.