Belgium gives ‘coordinator’ of 2015 Paris Islamist terror attack the right to temporarily leave jail

One of the men convicted over the 2015 Islamist attacks in Paris that killed 130 people has been granted the right to prison leave in Belgium, sparking fierce criticism.

Belgian prosecutors tell AFP that a Brussels court decided Mohamed Bakkali could be temporarily allowed out of the Ittre detention facility south of the capital, where he is serving a 30-year sentence.

“The court made this decision despite the prosecution’s opposition. The prosecution has no right to appeal, and the decision is therefore final,” the Brussels prosecutor’s office says. “It is up to the prison director to implement it.”

The court’s decision lets Bakkali — the logistics coordinator of the November 13 attacks that shocked the world — leave prison six times for 36 hours each.

“What a disgrace,” reacted right-wing Belgian lawmaker Denis Ducarme during a parliamentary session yesterday, lamenting a “trivialization of terrorism.”

“This decision seems to turn its back on the memory of the victims,” he said.

Belgium’s Justice Minister Annelies Verlinden has said prison leave was granted under “very strict conditions” after “a thorough review of the case.”

Bakkali had been let out before, though for shorter periods of time, she added.

A French court sentenced Bakkali to 30 years behind bars in 2022 for helping the Paris attackers by hiring safe houses and cars and procuring fake identity papers.

He was also sentenced to 25 years in prison in Belgium over his role in an attack on a high-speed Paris-bound train that left two passengers injured.

Belgian authorities handed him over to France for trial on condition that he returned to serve his sentence in Belgium.