The committee responsible for monitoring the activities of Belgium's State Security services has called for tighter measures to prevent sensitive information being leaked by national authorities to the media, L’Écho reports.
The R Committee is pushing Belgium’s security service to better prevent, trace, and prosecute the leak of information labelled as sensitive. In recent years, confidential information about Belgium’s Muslim community and its mosques has found its way into the hands of journalists.
In February 2022, the Muslim Executive of Belgium lodged a complaint with Committee R after the disclosure of several State Security reports and notes to the press, which they claim were aimed at “discrediting Muslims and mosques” and “creating a negative and stigmatising image of Islam and Muslims in Flanders.”
On the basis of these leaks, former Minister of the Interior Liesbeth Homans withdrew State support of a mosque in Beringen, basing her decision on the result of documents not publicly made available by Belgian’s state security services. Leaked documents also formed the basis of negative opinions from Justice Minister Vincent van Quickenborne about Brussels’ Grande Mosquée.
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Belgium’s State Security should “individualise” documents to ensure better traceability of leaks and to better identify who is leaking information to the press. According to L’Écho, state security has complained that some information in the media has endangered security assets mentioned in the report.
This crackdown on leaks does not concern the ministers themselves, who typically do not personally leak information to the media. For its part, Belgium’s State Security has also denied being the source of leaks, instead noting that too many people had access to State Security documents on religions.
Committee R wants the Minister of Justice to draft a circular on the topic, alongside the Minister of Defence. The security services will soon organise information sessions with ministers from regional governments to raise awareness about the issue.
