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Belgium Court of first instance Antwerp,department Antwerp criminal matters (Rechtbank van eerste aanleg Antwerpen,afdeling Antwerpen strafzaken) 2019 Belgium / Court of First Instance of Antwerp / No number found Race/Ethnicity, Gender, Religion Muslims, EU citizens & nationals with migrant background Guns, illegal weapons, an alarm gun, posters about stopping Islamization and two laptops were found in the defendant’s home. Through Twitter, he proposed ethnic cleansing of people of Moroccan origin. Via Twitter, he repeatedly harrassed UNIA’s director by calling her a rat, public traitor, anti-Semite, and a “Mulsim sucking collaborating whore”, alongside her picture, because he felt that UNIA takes complaints lodged by Muslims serious and others not. The defendant also harrassed a UNIA policy… View more
Belgium Court of first instance East-Flanders,department Ghent criminal matters (Rechtbank van eerste aanleg Oost-Vlaanderen,afdeling Gent strafzaken) 2018 Belgium / Court of First Instance of Ghent / Roll number 18G011567 - System number 18RG9098 Race/Ethnicity, Race/Ethnicity, Nationality, Religion Muslims, EU citizens & nationals with migrant background The facts of the case concern a wide range of inappropriate and racist remarks made on social media following the attacks in Istanbul (Turkey) on 1 January 2017. K.A. from Houthalen-Helchteren was killed in those attacks. The defendant, a Belgian national, repeatedly posted messages on the Internet, including on Facebook, targeting Muslims with a migrant background and replied to messages and videos posted by others from 18/09/2014 to 02/06/2017 included.The defendant denies the facts and… View more
Belgium Court of First Instance of Antwerp (Rechtbank van eerste aanleg van Antwerpen/Tribunal de première instance de Anvers) 2014 Belgium / Court of First Instance of Antwerp / No. AN56.LB.48751-12 Race/Ethnicity EU citizens & nationals with migrant background The case concerns a suspended punishment for racism and discrimination. A couple had been refused to rent a property by a real estate agency because of their origin (which was evident from their names). According to the couple, this was explicitly mentioned to them by a staff member of the agency. The agency manager denied the accusations. He argued that the apartment was rented to someone else who was on a waiting list. However, the existence of a waiting list could not be confirmed and the… View more
Belgium European Court of Human Rights, ECHR 2017 Belgium / ECtHR / Application no. 37798/13 / Judgement / Belcacemi and Oussar v. Belgium Religion Muslims The case concerned the ban on the wearing in public of clothing that partly or totally covers the face. Ms Belcacemi and Ms Oussar present themselves as Muslims who have decided on their own initiative to wear the niqab on account of their religious convictions. On 26 July 2011, Ms Belcacemi and Ms Oussar brought actions for the suspension and annulment of the law before the Constitutional Court. Their cases were dismissed by that court. View more
Belgium European Court of Human Rights, ECHR 2017 Belgium / ECtHR / Application no. 4619/12 / Dakir v. Belgium Religion Muslims The case concerned a by-law adopted in June 2008 by three Belgian municipalities (Pepinster, Dison and Verviers) concerning a ban on the wearing in public places of clothing that conceals the face. In August 2008, Ms Dakir, presenting herself as a Muslim who had decided on her own initiative to wear the niqab applied to the Conseil d’État (Council of State) for the annulment of the ban. She claimed, among other things, that the provision expressly concerned the Islamic clothing worn by her and… View more
Belgium European Court of Human Rights, ECHR 2017 Belgium / ECtHR / Application no. 34367/14 / Belkacem v. Belgium Religion Other religious groups, Muslims The case concerned the conviction of Mr Belkacem, the leader and spokesperson of the organisation “Sharia4Belgium”, which was dissolved in 2012, for incitement to discrimination, hatred and violence on account of remarks he made in YouTube videos concerning non-Muslim groups and Sharia. The Court noted that in his remarks he had called on viewers to overpower non-Muslims, teach them a lesson and fight them. The Court considered that the remarks in question had a markedly hateful content and… View more
Belgium European Court of Justice 2017 Belgium / CJEU - C‐157/15 / Judgment / Samira Achbita and Centrum voor gelijkheid van kansen en voor racismebestrijding v G4S Secure Solutions NV Religion Muslims The case concerns G4S' dismissal of S.A. because of her refusal to remove her Islamic headscarf. S.A., a Muslim, was employed by G4S at a time when the company had an unwritten rule that prohibited employees from wearing visible signs of their political, philosophical or religious beliefs in the workplace. Several years later G4S approved the rule. After this, Ms Achbita was dismissed because she refused to comply with the rule not to wear the Islamic headscarf at work. The Court… View more
Belgium French-speaking Court of First Instance of Brussels,61st penal chambre (Tribunal de première instance francophone de Bruxelles,61e chambre correctionnelle) 2018 Belgium / Court of First Instance of Brussels / Judgment number 2018/6234 - Roll number 18F033246 - System number 16R83630 Religion, Race/Ethnicity Muslims, EU citizens & nationals with migrant background A female pharmacist is asked in a very aggressive tone by a client to give more information about a prescription he had received ten days earlier from one of her colleagues. During her reply, the pharmacist is interreputed by the client who says he does not want to talk to her but to someone else, because “with the thing you wear on your head, you are not a scientist”. The pharmacist wears a veil at work and has never had any problem with other customers or her colleagues. The pharmacist’s… View more
Belgium Ghent Court of Appeal (Hof van Beroep Gent) 2021 Belgium / Hof van Beroep Gent / Gand, 24-06-2021 Religion Muslims The case concerns discriminatory rules applied in a municipal pool that forbid the use of swimwear that covers the entire body (burqini). It was brought by a woman who was prevented from using the pool because of her swimwear. View more
Belgium Kortrijk Criminal Court (Correctionele rechtbank Kortrijk) 2020 Belgium / Correctionele rechtbank Kortrijk / Trib.corr.Courtrai, 10-11-2020 Religion Muslims The case concerns physical violence against a Muslim woman. The victim was aggressed by a man who stuck with force a sticker that said "no mosque in our neighbourhood" to her back and to her cheek and allegedly pushed her to the ground. She was wearing a headscarf at the time of the incident. View more
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