14 November

The Belgian Moroccan Abdelkader Belliraj writes in a letter that he was tortured by the Moroccan intelligence service. Belliraj is in prison in Morocco on charges related to terrorism and murders in Belgium. The letter was published in De Standaard and Le Soir this morning.

Abdelkader Belliraj says that he is "a victim of the intelligence service". "I was tortured constantly for two months after my arrest," he writes.

"I was picked up one evening in January off the streets of Marrakech. I was handcuffed and blindfolded. After that I was tortured for two months. There was a camera in my cell and my every movement was registered," writes Belliraj in the letter. He also says that he was administered electric shocks and was hung up by his feet and beaten.

According to Belliraj this was revenge by the Moroccan Intelligence because he had refused to work for them. "They want to punish me and to get rid of me definitively because I refused to spy for the Moroccan secret service. They have been asking me to be a spy for them in the Moroccan community in Belgium since the early 1980s," claims the Moroccan Belgian.

He further alleges that the Moroccan Intelligence made up accusations of terrorism against him, and they forced him to sign all kinds of confessions. Belliraj's Belgian lawyer is demanding clarity regarding the allegations of torture. In Belgium judicial authorities are also investigating the man.

The trial of Abdelkader Belliraj that was postponed last month is being resumed today.

(flandersnews.be/Expatica)