The Antwerp Criminal Court on Thursday sentenced Nora Verhoeven, the repatriated widow of an Islamic State (ISIS) fighter, to 48 months in prison, 18 of them suspended.
In 2015, the Brussels woman, then 21 years old, was sentenced in absentia to five years’ imprisonment at the trial of the Sharia4Belgium movement. On her return to Belgium last year, she lodged an objection to the sentence.
In May 2013, the young woman had followed her companion, Tarik Taketloune, to Syria. Taketloune had joined the Majlis Shura Al Mujahidin terrorist group, which later merged with ISIS. After the death of her partner, she was allegedly forced to marry an older Syrian fighter. After fleeing from him, she was forced to marry the now deceased Belgian fighter Annas Koundi.
Nora Verhoeven was prosecuted for participating in the activities of a terrorist group. According to the public prosecutor’s office, phone taps revealed that the young woman had learned to handle weapons. The prosecution also considered that the household chores she performed to enable her husband to fight on the front constituted a form of complicity.
The young woman asked to be acquitted. According to her lawyer, she had travelled to Syria out of love, not to take part in terrorist activities. After the death of Takletloune, she reportedly wanted to return to Belgium, but failed to do so.
The court found, however, that Nora Verhoeven’s guilt was proven. During telephone conversations with her mother, the defendant had indicated that she did not wish to return and that this was also the wish of Taketloune: it was better to commit a suicide attack than to be arrested by infidels. She confessed that she wanted to die a martyr’s death.
The court did not believe that she made her statements under the influence of anyone, or that she was unable to express herself freely. In the wake of her partner’s death, she had again made it clear to her mother that she wanted to stay in Syria.
“She continued to commit herself to the terrorist groups and made their ideology her own. The fact that she may have been influenced by others does not make her any less responsible when appropriating such ideas,” the judgment read.
The psychiatric investigation revealed that Nora Verhoeven had a highly suggestible personality. The risk of her committing similar acts again was moderate. The court sentenced her to 48 months in prison, 18 months of which were suspended with conditions.
In particular, the young woman will have to undergo a de-radicalisation programme. She will also be prohibited from coming into contact with radical Islamist and jihadist circles, and from consulting any source from this sphere.
