Belgian Secretary of State for Asylum and Migration Theo Francken used his last day in office to sign the deportation order of cop killer Hassan Iasir to Morocco despite him being born in Belgium.
Francken, a member of the right-wing New Flemish Alliance (N-VA), signed the move on his final day in office following the collapse of the Belgian coalition late last year over the controversial UN migrant pact which his party refused to sign, RTL reports.
Mr Iasir is currently serving out a 30-year sentence for the murder of Belgian police officer Kitty Van Nieuwenhuysen in 2007. The 23-year-old female officer, who had only recently graduated from the police academy, was killed after being shot with a Kalashnikov rifle while in pursuit of Iasir and two others who had stolen a car.
Iasir, who is of Moroccan origin, was given the expulsion order even though he had been born in Belgium and had grown up in the country, as well.
Iasir’s lawyer Fabian Lauvaux told RTL saying that the deportation was part of a campaign stunt for the N-VA ahead of the upcoming Belgian national elections. “This decision, taken in extremis, seems to me to intervene for political purposes,” he said.
Criminal lawyer Nadège Pouossi gave a different take on the issue saying Francken was within his abilities as minister and “can decide to take an order to leave the territory for a person who is a danger to the security or public order.”
The deportation marks the final act for Franken who was well-known for his harder stance on mass migration and radical Islam, having called for the banning of the pro-Sharia political party Partij Islam last year.
“Sharia is in violation of human rights. The Sharia parties are therefore undemocratic. Real wolves disguised as lambs!” he said.