Moroccan-born ‘Belgian spy’ gets life sentence

Although he claims that his contact with terrorist organizations the world over was all part of his undercover work for the Belgian government, the Moroccan courts believe otherwise and have jailed Abdelkader Belliraj (51) for the remainder of his life.

He has been convicted of leading a terrorist networks and arms trafficking. Specific crimes include armed robbery in Luxembourg, high volume money laundering operations and threatening state security by bringing illegal weapons into the country. It is also believed that he met with Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan days before the 9/11 attacks were carried out.

In February 2008, Belliraj was arrested along with 34 others. He escaped the death penalty today, July 28, 2009, but his co-defendants got off with shorter sentences, ranging from 30 years in jail to one-year suspended sentences.

Since the 2003 Al Qaeda terrorist attacks that killed 45 in Casablanca, over 1000 people suspected of terrorist activity have been arrested in Morocco.

Belliraj continues to claim innocence – as he has since the very start of the trial in October of last year. But officials don’t buy it, saying they believe that on top of the aforementioned charges, he has also killed six people.

Belliraj stands firm by the defense that his contact with militant groups was related to his work as a paid informant for Belgium’s primary intelligence agency, Surete de l’Etat.

images courtesy of demorgen.be and yabiladi.com