Brussels' Chamber of Indictment has requested the release of Smaïl and Ibrahim Farisi, who were both arrested in the run-up to the Brussels 2016 terror attacks trial.
On Wednesday, Smaïl Farisi was arrested along with his brother Ibrahim after being accused of sheltering the terror suspect Ossama Krayem and Khalid El Bakraoui, the Maelbeek metro station suicide bomber.
Smaïl was the one who rented an apartment in Etterbeek where Ossama Krayem and Khalid El Bakraoui had been hiding. After the attacks on 22 March 2016, both Farisi brothers emptied and cleaned the flat, after which they were placed under arrest but were released on conditional parole.
As both brothers were only suspects standing trial for the terror attacks and were not serving a prison sentence, the Federal Public Prosecutor's Office requested their arrest.
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Ibrahim Farisi had handed himself over to police on Thursday evening, whilst Smaïl was arrested last Wednesday. Smaïl had deplored being issued with an arrest warrant in an interview with Le Soir.
After having been transferred to the Lease-en-Hainaut prison, Smaïl's legal counsel Sébastien Courtoy requested his release from prison, which has been granted by Brussels' Chamber of Indictment.
His brother Ibrahim's lawyer also submitting a similar request, which was granted on Thursday afternoon
Further debates have centred on whether prosecutors are treating terror suspects with basic human decency after some were placed behind glass cages during the initial hearing on Monday.
