Off the wire
• U.S., Japan announce to remove sensitive nuclear materials from Japanese research reactor  • Roundup: Triennale int'l exhibition of design, architecture and art kicks off in Milan  • Spanish Royal family get 1 pct pay rise  • Dortmund' s Neven Subotic to miss rest of the season  • Ireland's public broadcaster appoints new director-general  • Spotlight: Italy calls for European help with refugee crisis, experts say impacts overblown  • 1st LD: Xi calls for more national input, int'l cooperation to strengthen global nuclear security system  • Backgrounder: China assumes rotating presidency of the UN Security Council for April  • Russia urges to close Syrian-Turkish border  • Roundup: Greek parliament approves bill on migrants return to Turkey  
You are here: 　 Home

Roundup: Italy approves extradition to Belgium of Algerian allegedly linked to terror attacks

Xinhua, April 2, 2016 Adjust font size:

An Italian court on Friday approved the extradition to Belgium of an Algerian national arrested last week and suspected of collusion with the terror attacks in Paris and Brussels.

The Court of Appeal in the southern city of Salerno granted the extradition request by the Belgian authorities after one-hour-long deliberation, Italian news agency Ansa reported.

Djamal Eddine Ouali, 40, was arrested by Italian counter-terrorism police near Salerno on Saturday on the basis of a European arrest warrant issued by Belgium in January on charges of producing and procuring false documents.

The man has since refused to talk to prosecutors or police, according to local media.

The Algerian national was allegedly part of a criminal network believed to have provided false identity documents to some members of the terror cells that carried out the attacks in Paris on Nov. 13, 2015, and in Brussels on March 22.

The two terror attacks killed at least 162 people totally, and the so-called Islamic State (IS) group claimed responsibility for both.

Ouali had submitted a request for a residence permit in Italy in late February, and it was during routine check procedures into his application that his presence in the country was flagged, Italian police said.

In fact, Ouali's name first appeared in October 2015, when Belgian police raided an apartment in Brussels suburbs and found some 1,000 digital pictures in a computer used to forge IDs.

Dozens of false documents were also reportedly found, including the alias used by some of the terrorists operating in Paris and Brussels.

Italian police ascertained Ouali's identity after confronting his name with those included in the wanted list issued by the Belgian police after that raid.

It was not clear yet how long the man has lived in Italy, and whether he has also used alias to avoid capture in the country.

The court in Salerno ruled Ouali must be extradited to Belgium within 10 days.

Yet, his lawyer Gerardo Cembalo announced he would appeal the ruling to Italy's Highest Court, Ansa reported.

Prosecutors in Salerno might also appeal the ruling in order to postpone extradition, so as to gain more time and investigate further on Ouali's possible activities and connections in Italy. Enditem