Belgium regains control of Saudi-run Mosque over fears of promoting extremism

Belgium says it is retaking control of the Grand Mosque of Brussels by breaking Saudi Arabia’s lease of the building due to fears that the center is promoting extremism and segregationist attitudes.

 

Belgium says it is retaking control of the Grand Mosque of Brussels by breaking Saudi Arabia’s lease of the building due to fears that the center is promoting extremism and segregationist attitudes.

“The concession will be terminated immediately… in order to put an end to foreign interference in the way Islam is taught in Belgium,” the Belgian government said in a statement on Friday.

This is the first official confirmation of the move announced by Brussels following months of behind-the-scenes diplomacy to prevent any fall-out with Saudi Arabia, as reported by Reuters back in February.

Concerns over the mosque, situated in the vicinity of the European Union’s headquarters, surfaced after Takfiri terrorists, who plotted their attack in the Belgium capital, killed 130 people in Paris in 2015 and 32 others in Brussels in 2016.

According to officials, Belgium has the highest amount of extremists leaving the country and joining terrorist groups in Syria and Iraq in proportion to its population.