A relative of a Belgian jihadist said to be the "executioner of Raqqa" has been charged with financing terrorism after prosecutors found he had transferred funds suspected of ending up in the hands of one of the suspects of the Brussels attacks.
Federal prosecutors said on Wednesday that Chakir Haddouchi had been charged in July with participating in the activities of a terrorist organisation, following a series of money transfers made to his brother Anouar Haddouchi, detained in Syria in August 2018.
A €3,700 wire had been a central element in prosecutors' investigation into A. Haddouchi's suspected involvement in the Brussels and Paris attacks.
Authorities believe that the money had been given to Mohammed Abrini, a suspect in both attacks who is one of four suspects currently in detention ahead of the Brussels attacks trial.
The prosecutors confirmed that C. Haddouchi had transferred the money to the British account of his brother, who moved to Birmingham in 2009 with his family before leaving for Syria in 2014, Bruzz reports.
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Anouar Haddouchi has become known as the "executioner of Raqqa" following reports that he carried out over a hundred public beheadings in the former Islamic State (IS) stronghold in Syria, accusations which he denied in an interview with Italy's Il Fatto Quotidiano.
C. Haddouchi also reportedly transferred his brother's unemployment benefits to Syria, where according to reports by La Capitale the funds were received by a Moroccan national convicted by Portugal for recruiting young people to fight in Syria, but C. Haddouchi said he had transferred the money to his brother out of "pity" for his nephews who were in Syria with him.
The prosecutors referred C. Haddouchi to the correctional chamber, before which he is set to appear at an unspecified date.
Gabriela Galindo
The Brussels Times
