They were arrested in Maaseik and Brussels: 13 terror suspects accused of links to the group behind the Casablanca and Madrid bombings.

They are not accused of planning attacks on Belgian soil, but in providing logistical support to terror network Moroccan Islamic Combatant Group (GICM).

Belgian justice will close in on 13 terror suspects this month

The trial forms a test of a new Belgian terror law enacted in 2003, in which convicted members of a terrorist organisation can be jailed for 10 years.
 
All suspects were arrested after Khalid Bouloudou, 30, was arrested during a routine traffic inspection at Weert in the Netherlands. Of Moroccan ancestry, but born and bred in Belgium, Bouloudou was pulled over by police because one of his car lights was not working.

He was making his way home to Maaseik just over the Belgian border, but was immediately detained because his name stood on an international arrest warrant as the alleged Belgian leader of GICM.

Police then swooped on many of his co-suspects in March 2004 as 20 house raids were made in Maaseik in Brussels. The suspects had been under surveillance for some time.

In August, 13 of some 17 suspects were ordered to stand trial and after Thursday's procedural hearing, they will stand trial on 16 November.

The trial will be conducted in French, despite a request from a lawyer of three suspects that he be allowed to speak Dutch throughout the proceedings.

The request was denied because it was not made according to correct procedures. All suspects will now be provided with an interpreter if necessary.

But who are the defendants and what are they suspected of.

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