Belgium to extradite terror suspect

10 March 2005
 
BRUSSELS – Belgium is to extradite a Moroccan man accused of being linked to the Madrid bomb attack in March last year.
 
Youssef  Belhadj, 28, was first arrested by the Belgian authorities on 20 March 2004 but released three months later due to a lack of evidence.
 
He was arrested again in Brussels on 1 February 2005 and will be extradited to Spain within ten days unless he appeals.
 
Belhadj stands accused of being an Al Qaeda spokesman and of belonging to a Moroccan militant Islamic group.
 
On Tuesday the Spanish authorities said they had arrested another Moroccan man who had links to five suspects in the bombing, one of them being Belhadj.
 
The Spanish Interior Minister said Jouad el Bouzouti, 21, was suspected of having links to five Moroccan Islamic extremists and the Algerian Allekama Lamari.
 
Lamari was one of seven terror suspects who committed suicide when their apartment was surrounded by police last April in the Leganes suburb of Madrid.
 
El Bouzouti is also accused of having direct contact with Mohamed Afalah and Abdelmajid Bouchar who escaped from the Leganes apartment.
 
The authorities believe he was linked to Brahim and Mohamed Moussaten who are currently in prison for their alleged involvement in the attacks.
 
And he also stands accused of having telephone conversations with Belhadj.
 
[Copyright Expatica 2004]

Subject: Belgian news