The European head of Palestinian advocacy group has had his refugee status in Belgium, revoked.
Mohammed Khatib, the head of Samidoun, an activist group started in Canada but with chapters across the world, was told by Belgian authorities that his asylum status was being revoked after a nearly 18-month investigation.
In April 2024, the then-Secretary of State for Asylum and Migration Nicole De Moor ordered Khatib’s refugee status to be reviewed after he was suspected of supporting terror organisations, including Hamas and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), both of which are proscribed terrorist organisations by the EU.
Khatib was granted asylum in Belgium in 2015 and has lived there since 2010.
On Thursday, Samidoun released a statement confirming that Khatib plans to challenge the asylum decision and the reversal of Khatib’s refugee status is, “the latest development in a comprehensive attack upon the Palestinian population in Belgium”.
Samidoun added, “This dangerous development threatens not only Mohammed, but all Palestinians in Belgium who are active and involved in the struggle to end the ongoing Zionist-imperialist genocide in the Gaza Strip.”
Samidoun also claimed that the Belgian government’s description of Khatib as a “hate preacher” is “clearly made on racist grounds.” They also stated that Khatib has a right to be considered a refugee and to Belgian protection, “as a Palestinian refugee born in Lebanon, stateless, a consequence of the Zionist colonisation of Palestine”.
Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever recently announced he is moving to proscribe Samidoun. At the end of July, he introduced a new bill to ban “extreme organisations” such as Samidoun and the Muslim Brotherhood.
Samidoun, officially known as Samidoun: Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network, was founded in 2012 in Canada by Khaled Barakat, who has links to the PFLP, a Palestinian terror group notorious for plane hijackings, massacres, and assassinations, among other acts of violence.
On June 7, Samidoun also hosted an October 7 massacre reenactment for the group’s third annual “Resistance Festival” in the centre of Brussels. Participants dressed up as Hamas terrorists, donning masks, keffiyehs and army clothing. They also held fake guns whilst others lay on the floor and pretended to be corpses.
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