This material was presented in the 25th European Congress of Psychiatry which was organised by the European Psychiatry Association in Florence, Italy from 1-4th April 2017. I had access to the material as I attended the full Congress. Please note that this material remains the intellectual property of the European Psychiatry Association and its authors and any citation should include a full reference to it. For more information on the EPA and how to become a member, please visit: http://www.europsy.net/

1. Radicalisation and
violent extremism
Thomas Marquant
Firenze/ EPA 2017

2. Overview
• Many Pathwauys to violent extremism
• Case : Abdel C
• Sharia4Belgium
• case

3. Pathways to violent extremism
• Def.: ‘a willingness to use or support the use of violence to
further particular beliefs, including those of a political, social
or ideological nature. This may include terrorism.’ (Nasser-
Edine, 2011)
• Social -> terrorism
• Random violence -> school shootings, mass killings
• Militancy -> lone wolfs

4. Injustice frame-work
PRE-RADICALISATION
SELF-IDENTIFICATION
(Brain narrowing)
Disconnect-reconnect
INDOCTRINATION
(Brain hardening)
Knowledge/skills/training
JIHADISATION
(Brain washing)
Commitment factors
Causal factors
Capability factors
Nasser-Eddine (2011)

5. Injustice Framework (Slootman, 2006)
Political level
• Haves-and-have nots: real or imagined grievances
Ideological level
• For-and-against: issues/ causes
Cultural level
• In-groups and out-groups
Personal level
• Getting back at something/ someone

6. Dean (2014)
Entry
period
Disengagement
period
Engagement
period
Push factors
Pull factors
Cognitive opening
Cognitive mindset
Cognitive rewiring
Cognitive exiting
= Pivotal point
Behavioural indicators
Cognitive indicators

7. Sharia4Belgium
• created 2010
• Dissolved 2012
• Inspiration/ ties: Islam4UK (Anjem CHOUDARY)
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1SHGNu3XBBI
• Leader: SHURA
• FB
• Abdel C
• FM
• Others

8. Terror in BELGIUM
Sharia4Belgium
Antwerp
Aberkan
connections
BRUSSELS/
Molenbeek
Verviers
connecti
on
59 syria fighters
+/-100 syria
fighters
Vilvoorde
Brussels
Abdelhamid abaoud
Fatima A
Abid A
Khalid Z
FB
Abdel C
FY
Chakib Akrouh
Najjim Laachraoui

9. Belgium (OCAD)
• 2012 12/ maand
• 2013 12
• 2014 11
• 2015 6
• 2016 0
1. Antwerpen 97
2. Molenbeek 50
3. Brussel46
4. Schaarbeek 35
5. Vilvoorde 30
8. Verviers 10

10. Abdel C

11. Juridical info
• Current conviction: 2015 12 years + 3 years for
• + 2 accounts of participation in a terroistic organisation and being a leader of such an
organisation (art. 137 penal code)
• a structured organisation of more than 2 people existing for a prolonged period and that supports
or executes acts of terrorism, or participation in such an organsiation, knowing that his support
(financial or other) helps in he execution of terrorist attacks.
• - Location: Antwerp/ Brussels/ Syria/ Turky
• - Repeat offender
• + 1 account of keeping a prisoner (art. 137 penal code §1/2/3)
• Location: Syria
• + 1 account of resisting by force to police officers.
• Location: Molenbeek (Brussels)
•
• Previous history: 2010
• + 1 accounts of participation in a terroistic organisation and being a leader of such an
organisation (art. 137 penal code)
• Location: Antwerp
• Being part of a terrorist group that was willing to go fight in Tsjetjsnia.
• Acquittal in first instance

12. • Born in BELGIUM, 1978, Antwerp region. Morocon BG
• Non-fanatic religious background.
• Poor knowledge of arab/ written poor
• Drinks alcohol/ doesn’t follow 5 pilars
• Job-hops between jobs. No steady jobs. Works in bars. Travles
the world / has different relationships.
• No formal convictions/ does et some fines for serving alcohol
to minors.
Pre-radicalisation stage:

13. • First Pivotal Point:father dies, and he comes back from a stay in
Japan. After a long-standing relationship with a Scottisch girl.
• Abdel describes a difficult time, with the death of his father as well
as with the return from Japan. He states he was depressed and will
see a psychologist during 12 months.
• He states he gets into the WHY-questions, starts to wonder how to
live, also identifies to be a ‘bad muslim’. .
Self-identification/ entry stage:

14. Entry phase: beaviooral indicators (Borum, 2011; Schmidt, 2013)
• Visible changes in style of clothing and behaviour
• Break with family and turn to new friends.
• Religion becomes expl. For everything
• Other Muslim who are not axtreme are denounced
• Partcicipation in combat sports/ survival training.
• Fraud. Other criminal activities against non-believers
• Participation in religious seminars
• Language lessons/ trips abroad
• Efforts to evade detection (loss of passports,…)
• POSSIBILITIES to ENGAGE!

15. • Abdel describes 2 ways within his persnal radicalisation.
• First is through a specific guy in his Mosk, Mohammed, who has
a family hat is very active in the fight for muslims world wide.
• Second is the internet.
• At this point, he is part of the people that are involved in the
start-up of Sharia4Belgium. Sahria4Belgium.
• This is around the same time he marries a Morrocon girl and
accepts changes (visual) to become a Muslim .
Indoctrination:

16. • Cognitive opening naar militancy.
• At this point, he claims the TV and the internet were full of
statements muslims were being treated poorly.
• For him, he is part of the first wave of foreign fighters, that
went toSsyria for a good cause, to help.
• The guy who influences him in the mosque, turns out to
be a dud, and the guy as well as Abdel gets arrested.
Jihadisation:

17. • Second Pivotal Point: after release from prison.
• Abdel comes back from prison, he was aquitted, but he is
rejected by his own community as well as by his outgroup. .
• He then finds support through Sharia4Belgium.
• Acceptanceaction/ violence/ militancy.
Self-identification stage:

18. • S4B does really good, lots of members. Phone taps reveal an
increased militancy and also an increased paranoia towards
research such as police. The group is now very shielded of and
checks membership, attendance etc. .
• SHARIA4BELGIUM becomes very strict
Indoctrination:

19. • Starts to openly express and proclaim militatnt messages
• Travels to Egypt and obtains training in weaponry and fighting
(he denies not the travels, yet does denie the training)
• The leader of SHARIA4 Belgium is incarcerated, conflict
within leadership arises.
• Goes to Syria to fight
• Third Pivotal point : deception in Syria
• Subsequent exiting.
• Fourth Pivotal point: current detention
• ?????
Jihadisation:

20. Mobilisation determinants/ National Counterterrorism Center,
2011)
Mobilisation behaviours Percentage in Jihadis (%)
Communication/ links to extremists 91
Consumption of jihadi videos/ propaganda 91
Pursuit of religous instruction 86
Suspicious travel (location) 86
Expressed acceptance of violence/ mrtyrdom 82
Weapons training 77
Expressed perception of exist. Threat to Islam 73
Effort to obtain weapons 64
Membership extremist radical groups 59
Use of cover terms to mask true meaning 59
Attempted /desired foreign travel 59
Internet research for target selection,… 55
Suspicious travel patterns 55
Isolation/ rupture with family 55
Participation in vlogs, chatrooms,… 50
Active role of leadership 50

21. Dean (2014)
Entry
period
Disengagement
period
Engagement
period
Push factors
Pull factors
Cognitive opening
Cognitive mindset
Cognitive rewiring
Cognitive exiting
= Pivotal point
Death Father Return imprisonment
Syria deception

22. Terror detainees in BE prison (VL)
Turnhout Antwerpen Gent Leuven Brugge
followers leaders
At risk
group
Hasselt
Cel-Ex

23. Closing remarks