BBC News
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VIDEO: Drone footage shows migrants' arrival September 23, 2015
Matthew Price looks at one of the Greek hotspots for migrants entering Europe.
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VIDEO: The Olympian who never gave up September 23, 2015
In 1992, 400m medal hopeful Derek Redmond pulled up injured in the semi-final of the Barcelona Olympics, but still finished the race.
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VIDEO: Football legend Pele at 75 September 23, 2015
Football legend Pele is 75 this year. He talked to the BBC about what inspires him and what he makes of football today.
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VIDEO: Pope Francis lands to cheers in US September 22, 2015
President Obama and his Family have greeted Pope Francis upon his arrival at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland.
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VIDEO: Lesbos struggles as 4,000 arrive daily September 22, 2015
The Greek island of Lesbos is still struggling to keep up with the steady flow of migrants and refugees.
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VIDEO: How much does making a drug cost? September 22, 2015
As Turing Pharmaceuticals raises the price of an Aids treatment, Daraprim, BBC News looks at how the pharmaceutical industry tries to balance the pursuit of profit with a patient's need to access medication.
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VIDEO: Refugee crisis: Food and phone charging September 22, 2015
The BBC's Mark Lowen reports from a sports stadium on the Turkey-Greece border where agencies are providing shelter and food to refugees trying to reach Europe.
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VIDEO: On the ground at refugee hotspots September 22, 2015
EU ministers have approved a controversial plan to relocate 120,000 refugees and migrants across the EU using compulsory quotas.
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VIDEO: A guide to strange initiation ceremonies September 22, 2015
Initiation ceremonies are in the news, here are some of the stranger ones from around the world.
– SHARIA- 4 -BELGIUM ON TRIAL IN BRUSSELS
Only 9 of those charged were present in court in Antwerpen on Monday, including the alleged ringleader Fouad Belkacem. 32 (pic). The other 8 defendants present in court were ; 1. Jejoen Bontinck; 2. Hakim Elouassaki; 3. Elias Taketloune; 4. Walid L., 23; 5. Mohamed E.Y., 30; 6. Michaël Delefortrie, 25; 7. El Ouazna N., 51; 8. Bilal E.M.
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1. Jejoen Bontinck, 19, is the youngest defendant, originally a Catholic who gained fame as a teenager in Belgium when he appeared on a dance-competition show named “Move Like Michael Jackson”. Fame turned to notoriety after the Belgian media reported he had converted to Islam, joined Sharia4Belgium and traveled to Syria.
According to his lawyer was later held prisoner by Islamic State along with James Foley, the U.S. journalist whom the group beheaded in August 2014, He escaped, returned to Belgium and is cooperating with Antwerp prosecutors after spending two months in jail and providing information about James Foley’s possible location before his murder, they say.
2. Hakim Elouassaki, 22, the younger brother of Houssein Elouassaki, from the Brussels suburb of Vilvoorde, who Belgian authorities allege fought with Jabhat al-Nusra and executed a civilian prisoner in Syria. Hakin Elouassaki’s lawyer doesn’t deny his client fought in Syria but has denied he executed a prisoner.
3. Elias Taketloune, 24, from Vilvoorde who was imprisoned after returning from Syria. The others were allegedly still in Syria, with many possibly dead in the fighting there. Prosecutors said the accused belonged to Sharia4Belgium, a group disbanded in 2012.
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* OTHER DEFENDANTS –
* Nabil Kasmi, 22, who left for Syria’s battlefields in 05/2012. Considered to be the first jihadist recruited by Sharia4Belgium dispatched from Antwerp. In 11/2011 Nabil Kasmi traveled to Lebanon to meet with Omar Bakri Muhammad.
* Houssien Elouassaki, 24, also known as Abu Falluja, is the older brother of Hakim Elouassaki, repatriated badly wounded in 2013 and is still imprisoned. He admitted he executed a man because he didn’t dare to disobey the orders of his commander.
* Hicham Chaib, 32, a native of a town near Antwerp, has climbed the ranks of I.S.I.S, the Antwerp police official says. Haicham Chaib was featured in a “Greetings” video released online last month by Islamic State on Eid al-Fitr, the celebration of the end of the fasting month of Ramadan.
The other defendants were identified as Feisal Yamoun. 31, Said M’Nari, and Brahim Bali, 28.
Hicham Chaib, a native of a town near Antwerp, has climbed the ranks of I.S.I.S, the Antwerp police official says. Haicham Chaib was featured in a “Greetings” video released online last month by Islamic State on Eid al-Fitr, the celebration of the end of the fasting month of Ramadan.
Members, the court heard, approached young men and a few teenage women in Antwerpen and Vilvoorde, north of Brussels, to invite them to their centre in Antwerpen where they were indoctrinated and readied for their trip to Syria. “The clear aim was to prepare them for armed combat,” Luc Festraets, a prosecutor, told the court.
“Belkacem’s words can only be interpreted as a call to violence and jihad,” said Ann Fransen, another prosecutor in the case.
Once in Syria, the recruits joined organisations such as the Jabhat al- Nusra Front, Al Qaeda’s affiliate in Syria, and groups which now aligned with or part of the I.S.I.S group, prosecutors said.
Quoting from tapped telephone conversations and statements by one of the suspects, who will be a key prosecution witness, Ann Fransen said the accused were deeply entwined with the groups inspired by fighting in Syria.
Investigators said Fouad Belkacem never travelled to Syria, unlike most of the members of the group, but he was the “catalyst” who prompted many to go and fight there. The belgian authorities believe Fouad Belkacem and Sharia4belgium are behind 80% of about over 300 Belgian Muslim volunteers who went to fight in Syria (see – Western-Jihadists).
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On 02/11/2015 Fouad Belkacem was sentenced to 12 years imprisonment. The other 45 members were given sentences, some suspended, ranging between three and 15 years. Only seven of the accused were at the court for the ruling. Most others are said to still be in Syria, and some may already be dead.
Jejoen Bontinck, got a suspended sentence of 40 months. He made headlines after his father travelled to Syria and brought him home. Jejoen Bontinck later appeared in the trial as a prosecution witness.
21-year-old convert Brian De Mulder, one of the defendants, is still believed to be fighting, or dead, in Syria.
* Related topics:
05/2014-BRUSSELS JEWISH MUSEUM SHOOTING
06/2013-ANAS EL ABBOUDI ARRESTED OVER TERROR IN ITALY
04/2013-THREAT TO THE WEST
02/2012-DEATH THREAT IN BELGIUM FOR SLAMMING ISLAMIC CODE
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