Belgium revokes recognition and funding of Muslim Executive

Federal Justice Minister Vincent Van Quickenborne has decided to withdraw the recognition of the Muslim Executive – the official representation of Islam in Belgium – after the organisation has been under sustained criticism.

“That means that we will no longer provide subsidies and that their role will then disappear.”

The Muslim Executive receives approximately €600,000 in subsidies per year but is suspected of foreign influence from Turkey and Morocco, as well as malfunctioning and radicalism.

18 February 2022

https://www.brusselstimes.com/belgium/206968/belgium-revokes-recognition-and-funding-of-muslim-executive

Belgian Muslims to take halal ban to European Court of Human Rights

“The Belgian Muslim Executive and the Coordination Council of Islamic Institutions of Belgium will challenge at the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg the ban imposed by the Flemish and Walloon government on the ritual slaughter,” the two organizations wrote in a press statement.

18 Dec 21

https://halalfocus.net/eu-belgian-muslims-to-take-halal-ban-to-european-court-of-human-rights/

On December 4, Justice Minister Vincent Van Quickenborne suspended the recognition process for the Great Mosque of Brussels, stating that, according to the country’s civilian intelligence, the mosque had ties with the Moroccan intelligence agency.

He also said that all bodies of the Muslim Executive should reexamine and, as needed, replace their leaders because they were no longer representative of all Muslims living in the country, adding that “the same individuals continuously appear, whether in the Muslim Executive or in associated nonprofit organizations.” (The Muslim Executive is composed of four organs focused respectively on mosques, education, social issues, and imams, as well as the Council of Theologians and the Coordination Council for Belgian Islamic Institutions [CIB].)

On December 5, the Belgian Muslim Executive, CIB, and Association for the Management of the Great Mosque released a joint statement condemning Van Quickenborne’s announcement, saying it was “defamatory, insulting, and onerous to declare that our members are spies with interests abroad” and that the suspension violated freedom of religion and the separation of church and state.

https://www.state.gov/reports/2020-report-on-international-religious-freedom/belgium/