European Union states can reject asylum seekers involved in terrorist networks, even if they haven’t committed acts of terror, EU’s top court ruled Tuesday.
The Court of Justice (ECJ) upheld a ruling in Belgium to deny asylum for Mostafa Lounani, a Moroccan national sentenced to six years in prison in 2006 for being part of the “Moroccan Islamic Combatant Group.” Lounani applied for asylum in 2010 to escape deportation upon his release. He argued he would get persecuted as a radical extremist if he returned to Morocco.
The ECJ found that Louhani’s acts of forging passports and providing logistical support for a terrorist organization justified his “exclusion from refugee status.”
The ruling sets a precedent that strips refugee status from asylum seekers with terror ties.
Norway tried to deport Mullah Krekar, the leader of an al-Qaida-linked terror cell, for more than a decade. Human rights regulations blocked every attempt, as Krekar would face the death penalty in his native Iraq. Norway finally managed to extradite him to Italy last June.
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