Belgium strikes back against leaders of national Islamist group

Belgium has started its largest-ever terrorism trial in the port city of Antwerp. Here, 46 members of the Sharia4Belgium Islamist group are being charged with recruiting scores of young Muslims to fight for the Islamic State.

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LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - The Sharia4Belgium group is part of the radical Salafist movement. It was founded in 2010 with the goal of bringing Sharia law to Belgium. The group announced that it was opening a Sharia Law court in Antwerp in September 2011, which brought a great deal of controversy internationally and within Belgium.

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Belgium is the largest source of European jihadists. About 400 Belgians are now in Iraq and Syria fighting with the Islamic State or other jihadist groups. Belgian prosecutors say that 10% of these were recruited by the Sharia4Belgium group.

"The activities of Sharia4Belgium are clearly aimed at violent struggle in Belgium and abroad," Luc Festraets, one of the prosecutors, told the court. "Other religious groups are to be threatened and political regimes are to be overthrown," he added, referring anti-Western propaganda created and spread by the group.

During the first day of the trail, on September 29, the prosecution told the Antwerp Criminal Court that members of the group repeatedly approached young men and women in Belgian cities like Antwerp and Vilvoorde, and invited them to private meetings where they were indoctrinated into radical Islamic ideology.

Sharia4Belgium recruited many through social media, but also found many potential jihadists through dawah-when preachers call out to people to embrace Islam on the streets-something that has become increasingly more common in cities and towns across Europe.

"The 'Dawas' are a very important recruiting tool for Sharia4Belgium," Festraets told the court. "This has occurred not only in Antwerp but also in Vilvoorde. Young people are indoctrinated through lessons and lectures about radical Islam."

Of the 46 defendants, 16 are being charged with being leaders of Sharia4Belgium and face a sentence of up to 15 years in prison, but could also face fines of up to $38,000. The other 30 are charged with being members of the group, and could face a range of sentences including ten years in prison or 12 months of probation.

Only nine of these defendants have so far appeared in court. The rest are either in Syria, hiding, or have been killed.

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