The measure, launched by the general prosecutor’s offices, was pronounced by a civil chamber of an appeal court. It could only apply to dual nationals. Two of these people stripped of Belgian nationality, Bilal Soughir and Malika El Aroud, believed that this was an unjustified infringement of their right to respect for private life and, for Ms. El Aroud – who has a daughter and a Belgian granddaughter – an attack on her family life. They complained that there was no appeal against the measure. They therefore appealed to the European Court of Human Rights. Malika El Aroud has since died.
The Strasbourg judges dismissed them on Thursday. The ECHR notes that, for questions relating to nationality, States must have a wide margin of appreciation. She recalls that terrorist violence in itself constitutes a serious threat to human rights and, therefore, that it is legitimate for States parties not to remain passive towards people who have been definitively convicted.
The terrorist alert level remains unchanged for the end of year periods: “A high level which means that the threat is possible and probable”
Finally, she notes that Bilal Soughir and Malika El Aroud have another nationality, which has not made them stateless. The Belgian authorities did not exceed their ample margin of appreciation and the measures were “necessary in a democratic society.concludes the European Court of Human Rights.
This civil procedure for forfeiture of nationality is almost no longer used in Belgium. In the wake of the rise of the jihadist terrorist threat in 2015, the legislator introduced another criminal procedure. The criminal courts can impose an additional penalty of forfeiture of nationality on dual nationals sentenced to a minimum five-year sentence for terrorism.
