The terrorist who killed two Swedes in Brussels in October has been buried under an unrevealed false name to prevent his resting place from becoming a rallying point for “sympathisers”, local press has reported.
Authorities buried Abdesalem Lassoued, who shot dead two Swedish football supporters, in the multi-confessional cemetery at Evere while deliberately concealing his identity, newspaper La Capitale reported on November 29.
Lassoued, 45, was buried “while giving him a false name” in the cemetery’s plot reserved for Muslims . The decision to use a pseudonym was to discourage “outbreaks” and “prevent his grave from becoming a meeting place for sympathisers”, cemetery management told the newspaper.
A number of terrorists are buried at the Evere cemetery including: Brahim Abdeslam, who blew himself up in a Paris café in 2015; Bilal Hadfi, who did the same up after trying to get into the Paris Stade de France stadium; Chakib Akrouh, who also sef-detonated while under assault by French police in the Saint Denis suburb; and Khalid Ben Larb, who was shot dead by Belgian Commandos in 2015 during a raid on an apartment in Verviers, near Liège.
Terrorists are seldom allowed back into their country of origin for burials, La Capitale reported.
Lassoued, a Tunisian, claimed he was acting in the name of Islamic State.
Molenbeek, another Brussels neighbourhood, became infamous worldwide after the 2015 Paris attacks as an incubator of terrorists. That came when it was revealed a number of them, including several of those cited above, had operated there for years with impunity.
The Belgian capital’s authorities have made efforts to improve the area’s image and address radicalisation in the intervening years, although the success of such plans is seen as debatable.
There has been an increase in violent crime, including shootings, over the past two years following the arrival of international drug mafias, who are also reported to be using Molenbeek as a base.
