“Marie-Laure Ingouf, a lawyer for Nicolas Hénin and Pierre Torres, two of the four French journalists who were first detained in 2013 by the Islamic State in Syria, said that the former hostages had identified one of their captors as Mr. Laachraoui, who used the name Abu Idris at the time.” This means that Laachraoui was able to leave Belgium, go to the Islamic State, and return to Belgium with no problem. Any attempt to forbid him from returning on the grounds that he had, by journeying to the Islamic State, joined an entity that has declared war against Belgium and Europe in general would have been dismissed as “Islamophobic.”
“ISIS Ex-Hostages Identify Brussels Suicide Bomber as Captor,” by Aurelian Breeden, New York Times, April 22, 2016 (thanks to Thomas):
PARIS — Najim Laachraoui, one of the two suicide bombers who attacked Brussels Airport last month, has been identified by former Islamic State hostages as one of their captors in Syria, a lawyer for several of the hostages said on Friday.
Marie-Laure Ingouf, a lawyer for Nicolas Hénin and Pierre Torres, two of the four French journalists who were first detained in 2013 by the Islamic State in Syria, said that the former hostages had identified one of their captors as Mr. Laachraoui, who used the name Abu Idris at the time.
In the latest issue of the Islamic State’s online magazine Dabiq, Mr. Laachraoui was identified by the nom de guerre Abu Idris al-Baljiki.
Mr. Henin, Mr. Torres and two other French journalists, Didier François and Edouard Elias, were freed in April 2014 after 10 months of captivity in Syria….
Mr. Laachraoui was one of the two suicide bombers at Brussels Airport; a third detonated explosives at the Maelbeek subway station later that same morning. Seven others believed to be involved in the attacks are in custody.
Investigators believe that Mr. Laachraoui, a 24-year-old engineering student who dropped out of college, manufactured explosives used not just in the Brussels bombings but also in the November attacks in the Paris area, which left 130 dead….