The Belgian state has paid former al-Qaeda terrorist Nizar Trabelsi €350,000, allegedly in relation to his detention conditions and an “illegal” extradition to the US.
Trabelsi – formerly a Tunisian professional footballer – was arrested in September 2001 for his role in a planned attack on Belgium’s Kleine-Brogel Air Base, where US troops and weapons were stationed. Trabelsi was also found to have traveled to Afghanistan to meet Osama bin Laden. Additionally, he was suspected of plotting two other attacks: one on a US embassy in Paris – where he would have been the suicide bomber; and one on two US-bound airliners that he and a co-conspirator planned to blow up.
In 2003, he was found guilty of illegally possessing arms and of being a member of al-Qaeda, and was sentenced to 10 years in prison in Belgium. While in prison, in 2007, 14 people were arrested on suspicion of plotting to free him.
In 2013, instead of being released, Trabelsi was extradited to the United States. According to the European Court of Human Rights, this extradition was illegal. In the US, Trabelsi spent 10 more years in prison without a trial and was held mostly in solitary confinement.
In July 2023, a US jury acquitted him. The US then attempted to extradite him to his native Tunisia, where he likely would have suffered torture, according to the European Court of Human Rights.
Belgium pays ex al-Qaeda terrorist after extradition to US
Following a ruling by the Brussels Court of Appeal, Belgium was made to accept Trabelsi’s return, and also pay penalties for not bringing him back from the US despite his being acquitted. He landed in Brussels on August 8 and was held in a closed illegal alien center for several months before finally being released on October 22.
Last week, Belgium’s Justice Minister Annelies Verlinden confirmed to De Standaard and VRT that Trabelsi had been paid the €350,000 sum in compensation. Broken down, the sum is made of €300,000 in compensation and €50,000 in procedural costs.
His lawyers, Chantal Moreau, Thierry Moreau, and Julien Hardy, told Le Soir: “The Belgian state owes a lot to Mr. Trabelsi, because of having violated numerous court decisions, of having illegally extradited him to the United States, where he was detained for more than 10 years in abominable conditions, to finally be totally acquitted of the facts of which he was accused.”
Not all political figures in Belgium were thrilled about his return. MP Francesca Van Belleghem called on Verlinden to extradite Trabelsi to Tunisia.
“Trabelsi is staying illegally in our country. With the amount he received, he can remain here for the rest of his life. There must be ways to ensure that he is deported to Tunisia. Minister Verlinden must enforce guarantees from Tunisia that Trabelsi will be treated humanely there,” said Van Belleghem.
Right-wing Asylum and Migration Minister Anneleen Van Bossuyt said in October that she had tried “everything to keep Trabelsi in the detention center and deport him to Tunisia,” but was “hitting a judicial wall.”
“As a minister, I am tied hand and foot: the court rulings do not allow me to detain him any longer or to send him back to his country of origin.”