CNN recently put together a combination of an interview and an article of Michael Delefortie, a Belgian national. His story starts out by describing his childhood, growing up in a Catholic family. After struggling with a rough childhood, he turned to Islam as a way out. Changing his name to Younnes, he began to become radicalized by a local street preacher who helped funnel him into Syria to fight amongst the ranks of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria. Within the interview, he still speaks very highly of the terrorist organization, saying that he wishes he never would have left.
After returning home after a short stint in Syria, two months to be exact, he is arresting for participating in a terrorist organization. He was convicted on that charge and sentenced to…
Only three years.
A sentence of only three years for going to ISIS to aid them in person is a little on the light side. He didn’t just send money or try to recruit a person or two to send to Syria. He went there and guarded prisoners. He did claim that he didn’t kill anyone, but the simple fact that he helped an organization who slaughters thousands means that he is complicit in each one of their murders. That cannot be punished by a simple slap on the wrist.
In the United States, a similar charge is used, called “providing material support for a terrorist organization”. However, the sentences attached to these charges are much stiffer than those in Belgium. According to the FBI, it is not uncommon for someone to be sentenced to anywhere from 10 to 20 years just for sending money to a terrorist group. Amina Farah Ali was sentenced to 20 years in prison a lifetime supervision for sending money 12 times to Al-Shabaab.
Belgium and the rest of the European continent should take a look at their criminal justice system and maybe learn from the success of the United States. A mere 3 years in prison does little to deter the person from returning to their former life. Even Delefortie described in the interview that the time he spent in prison was “relaxing”. It is possible that it may even have given him an opportunity to recruit others within the prison system. Now that he is out, he is heaping his praises upon the Islamic State. It is hard to estimate what kind of influence he is having on fellow Muslims around him. He could be further radicalizing them so they follow in his footsteps. Unfortunately, the article does not go into those details.
Right now, Europe is currently fighting terrorism with everything they have, given the realities of the geopolitical landscape. With the Syrian civil war raging to the south, millions of refugees have entered into Europe. Alongside those refugees are a small number of former ISIS soldiers, like Delefortie. Some are even tasked with building terrorist networks and carrying out attacks on people in the West.
Right now is the time for change. With so many people that could fall victim to marginalization because they do not speak the local language or fit in with local culture, coupled with a societal fear of offending anyone, especially Muslims, there is fertile ground for extremism to fester. It is time to thoroughly crack down on all forms of terrorism in Europe before it becomes a larger problem than it already is.
Much harsher prison sentences are only a part of what is necessary. To truly root out the type of ideology that pushes many disenfranchised young men to leave their European homes to fight in the Middle East, citizens and refugees alike must speak out against any language that even hints at sympathy for terrorist organizations or acts. By no means should the people of Europe go out of their way just to offend Syrian refugees, but the fear of offending is crippling the region. Instead of being bold about what the west is against, it would be more beneficial to proclaim boldly what the west is for. Stating that personal freedom like the freedom of speech, press, and religion are non-negotiable, even if it offends someone, is a good place to start. This strategy could keep moderate refugees from feeling more isolated and disenfranchised because it is less of an attack, but more of stating an ideal. Refugees on the fringes who might be offended by some of the language and angered to the point of violence could be identified and stopped before they act.
Terrorism in the 21st Century 
A country sentencing someone to three years for participating in a terrorist group is insane and most likely does not benefit that person at all. I wonder why Belgium take it so lightly due to all the recent attacks on Europe? America’s way of handling prison sentences to terrorist are substantial and actually impact whether or not said person will participate in those cruel activities. Now I know isolation often creates emotional distress but for the sake of your other prisoners, a recent terrorist deserter should possibly be isolated. He could easily recruit members inside of that prison due to when they get out they have no where to go and are looking are a easy path. An individual wanting to leave Europe to fight in a civil war has to know that his punishment when coming home will not be devastating at all and simple does not care due to that.
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Seth,
Though I admit that the European responses to terrorism has been slow and lenient for years, the United States should not be fully viewed as the best respondent to the rise of terrorist actions. Yes, the European nations like Belgium should begin pushing for stricter laws, with only three years being a disappointing punishment that is unequal to the crime, but the United States has a history of overreaction and extremely reckless. Our current President and his attempts at a travel ban to prevent immigrants and refugees from war-torn countries from entering our country in the name of protecting our borders from terrorism. We have discussed in class that there are greater threats inside our nation than from abroad (religious extremists, white supremacists, etc.), and we should begin to focus on them more. We should not spend time critiquing the terrorist responses to our European brethren, but instead return to ourselves. They have more problems with external forces than ourselves, so we should let them move along the pace they so desire (even if the three year punishment is fairly ridiculous) and return our focus to us.
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Thanks Seth. Prison radicalization is a problem not discussed as much, given the myriad issues with terrorism. Yet, we know how important it is to address it, which is why we put time/effort into having anti-radicalization programs in Afghan jails and prisons in the last decade.
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