Facts
O.Y.T. is being investigated for allegedly belonging to an al-Qaeda cell which was partly responsible for several car bombings in Baghdad. These attacks, which targeted governmental buildings in 2009 and 2010, killed 376 people and injured over 2’300.
O.Y.T. fled Iraq to Belgium in 2015.
Procedure
The suspect was granted asylum in Belgium in 2015. In 2020, Iraqi authorities requested O.Y.T.’s extradition over the same charges as those in the Belgian investigation. A criminal investigation has then been opened in Belgium.
On 3 May 2023, O.Y.T. was arrested after the police raided an address in Hasselt, Belgium. He was indicted while under investigation for murders with terrorist intent, participation in a terrorist group, war crimes and crimes against humanity. The federal prosecutor indicated that he cannot extradite O.Y.T. to Iraq because of his refugee status in Belgium and because Iraq still practices the death penalty. The secretary of state for asylum and migration requested the withdrawal of O.Y.T.’s refugee status, which had been maintained in order to carry out secret investigations since 2020.