A Belgian man has been held in the Netherlands for the past five weeks on suspicion of belonging to the Al Qaeda terrorist network, local Dutch media reported Wednesday. The man, who has not been named and is of Moroccan origin, was arrested on Jan. 27 during a routine traffic control when police discovered he was the subject of an international arrest warrant. He is currently being held in custody in the Dutch city Vught but the court in Roermond must decide on May 18 whether to extradite him to Morocco. The Moroccan authorities believe he has met personally with Al Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden and that he helped organize the May 2003 suicide bombings in Casablanca, which left 45 people dead. If he were extradited and found guilty, he could face the death penalty under Moroccan law.
| Which means he won't be extradited, no matter how many people he's killed... |
The Dutch authorities have said they will reply to the Moroccan request "soon," but the man’s lawyer, Victor Koppe, has already expressed concern that his client would not get a fair trial if the extradition went ahead. |