Belgium sentences Jewish museum killer and former ISIS fighter to life

Nemmouche was found guilty on four counts of “terrorist murder” for shooting dead an Israeli couple and two museum workers.

By Associated Press and World Israel News Staff

A Belgian court has sentenced a French citizen and former ISIS fighter to life in prison on terror charges for gunning down four people at the Brussels Jewish Museum four years ago.

Just before he was sentenced early Tuesday, Mehdi Nemmouche, who prosecutors say fought for the Islamic State group in Syria, said, “Life goes on.”

Nemmouche was found guilty last week on four counts of “terrorist murder” for shooting dead an Israeli couple and two people working at the museum.

Earlier this month as the jury in his trial prepared to consider its verdict, Nemmouche insisted that he was innocent and that he had been “trapped” into involvement in the slaying.

State broadcaster RTBF says Nemmouche’s accomplice, Nacer Bendrer, was sentenced to 15 years in prison for supplying the revolver and assault rifle used in the May 24, 2014 killing.

The shooting was the first high-profile attack in Europe by a suspected foreign fighter and cemented fears that extremists fighting abroad would eventually return to sow terror at home.

Recently, the Belgian State Security Service issued a report saying that terrorism is on the rise. However, it did not cite Islamic extremism as a cause, blaming instead such phenomena as “poor economic conditions.”