2 EL HASKI v. BELGIUM JUDGMENT Islamic theology and Arabic. During that period he travelled on several occasions to Morocco, Turkey and Saudi Arabia. He also visited Afghanistan twice, in 1994 and 1995, for a few months each time. He carried out military training there and – according to his application – took part in “a training programme for the military leader Hekmatyar”. 6. The applicant returned to Morocco in 2002. Under the surveillance of the Moroccan authorities, he left the country for Saudi Arabia, arriving there in October 2002. He only remained there until 2003 because – he alleged – he was “wanted by both Moroccan and Saudi intelligence services”. 7. The applicant reached Belgium via Turkey in early 2004, with false identity papers. He settled there with his Belgian wife and their son. He lodged an asylum application on 16 June 2004. 8. The applicant was arrested in Belgium on 1 July 2004. He was charged with participating, between 7 January and 2 July 2004, as a leader, in the activity of a terrorist group (the Moroccan Islamic Fighting Group, referred to hereinafter as “GICM” after its French name Groupe Islamique Combattant Marocain), and with forgery, conspiring in a leading capacity to commit an offence, handling of stolen goods, use of a false name and illegal entry and residence. A. The context of the applicant’s arrest 9. It can be seen from the report on the facts submitted on 26 April 2006 by the Federal Prosecutor before the Brussels Court of Appeal (see paragraph 27 below) and that court’s judgment of 19 January 2007 (see paragraphs 29-41 below) that, on 25 November 2002, the administratorgeneral of the State security service transmitted to the Federal Prosecutor’s office a report noting the presence in Belgium of a group of North African nationals with links to the GICM, made up of individuals who had undergone military training in Afghanistan in camps connected to Al-Qaeda and led by a certain “Shihab”, alias “Abdellah”. A second report dated 24 December 2002 indicated that B. was part of that group. 10. A judicial investigation was opened on 9 January 2003 against persons unknown on a charge of criminal conspiracy. 11. In a third report, dated 28 March 2003, the State security service informed the public prosecutor’s office that a certain O. was the individual known as “Shihab”, and that he had spent time in Afghanistan in 2001, where he had followed paramilitary training. 12. In connection with the investigation into the Casablanca bombings of 16 May 2003, which left about fifty people dead, the Moroccan authorities arrested a number of Islamist militants. During an interview on 8 August 2003, one of them, N., alias Abu Muad, who acknowledged that he was one of the leaders of the GICM and that he had contributed to organising the movement in 2001 in Afghanistan, stated that a certain H.