The European Court of Justice (ECJ) on Tuesday (January 31) ruled that an EU member state can refuse a refugee status to someone who was convicted of links with terror groups even if the person had not been convicted of terrorism as defined by the United Nations Security Council.
The case was brought to the Luxembourg-based court by Belgium, who refused international protection to Moroccan national Mostafa Lounani on the grounds of participation in a terrorist organisation.
Lounani was sentenced to six years in prison for having participated in the activities of a terrorist group. He was convicted of providing logistical support, forging passports, fraudulent transfer of passports and active participation in sending volunteers to Iraq.
In 2010, Lounani applied to the Belgian authorities for refugee status.
President of the ECJ Koen Lenaerts said that participating in the activities of a terrorist group was enough to justify exclusion from refugee status.
“Acts of participating in the activities of a terrorist group — such as the ones that the main defender has been sentenced for — can justify the exclusion from refugee status, even if it has not been established that the person in question committed, tried to commit or threatened to commit a terrorist act as defined in the resolutions of the United Nations Security Council,” he said.
(REUTERS)