Brussels, Belgium – Concern has been raised over the recent arrest of a Palestinian activist in Belgium, with the organization he works for characterizing the incident as “a form of state harassment.”
Mohammed Khatib, the 35-year-old European coordinator for Samidoun, a global Palestinian prisoner solidarity network, was taken into custody on April 21 after participating in a daily protest calling for an end to Israel’s actions against Palestinians in Gaza.
Each evening, a group of people gathers on the steps of the former stock exchange in Brussels to display a Palestine flag and chant slogans of support in English, Arabic, and French.
While a police presence is common, Khatib became uneasy when he noticed an officer taking his photo.
After leaving around 7:30pm (17:30 GMT), he was stopped nearby for what he described as a “spontaneous” ID check by local police.
He was then arrested and transported in a police van to a central station. Approximately 30 supporters gathered outside, chanting “Free our comrade!” before being dispersed by riot police around 10pm (20:00 GMT).
Khatib was later moved to a nearby station, where he was interrogated without legal representation and eventually released around 5am (03:00 GMT).
Following hours spent waiting in a cell, he was questioned briefly about an incident in April 2024 when he was attacked with a knife. He was also taken to the hospital for nonurgent treatment.
“They were making every effort to detain me,” Khatib informed Al Jazeera.
The Brussels Public Prosecutor’s Office informed Al Jazeera: “Mohammed Khatib was arrested as part of an investigation into events that occurred in April 2024. He was released following questioning.”
Belgium’s tensions with the pro-Palestine movement
Originally from the Ein El Hilweh camp in Lebanon, Khatib, a Palestinian refugee born in 1990, arrived in Belgium alone at the age of 19, sought asylum, and co-founded Samidoun one year later in 2011. Advocating for the rights of Palestinians imprisoned in Israel is his primary focus.
Samidoun’s position on Israel-Palestine has led to Khatib being labeled a “serious” security threat by the Coordination Unit for Threat Analysis (CUTA), an independent body reporting to Belgium’s justice and interior ministries.
Khatib stated that officers on April 21 initially justified his arrest based on the CUTA designation.
This was the second time he had been arrested. In October 2023, he was detained at a protest for refusing to stop waving a Palestine flag.
He referred to his recent detention as “minor” compared to the challenges faced by the pro-Palestine movement in some Western nations.
Samidoun described the arrest as “a form of state harassment targeting a prominent leader, not only of Samidoun, but of the growing movement against the ongoing genocide in occupied Palestine.”
“It’s difficult not to interpret it in that context,” refugee and immigration lawyer Benoit Dhondt told Al Jazeera. “Many individuals are experiencing a sense of conflict due to the suppression of the Gaza genocide in Europe.”
Meanwhile, “excessive policing of the pro-Palestine movement complicates understanding of the situation,” he added.
Author and journalist David Cronin wrote in The Electronic Intifada: “If the Belgian authorities succeed in silencing Mohammed Khatib and Samidoun, we must ask: Who will be next? All Palestine solidarity activists are at risk.”
In May of last year, police utilized water cannons and tear gas to disperse a peaceful demonstration outside the Israeli embassy in Brussels at the direction of Mayor Boris Dillies, who deemed the protest unauthorized. An open letter signed by Amnesty International criticized the measure as “inconsistent with international law.”
Earlier that month, around 40 protesters were arrested when a demonstration at the US embassy ran overtime.
In a report on the status of the right to protest published in July, Amnesty highlighted that administrative arrests “are increasingly employed to prevent individuals from participating in protests” in Belgium.
Human rights and immigration lawyer Helene Crokart told Al Jazeera that these arrests “are not isolated occurrences” and sometimes amount to “outright intimidation.”
Samidoun, Khatib in the crosshairs
On October 15, then-State Secretary for Migration and Asylum Nicole De Moor, a Christian Democrat, initiated a process to revoke Khatib’s asylum, referring to him as a “hate preacher.”
“Even if an individual has been recognized as a refugee but is revealed to be an extremist, recognition can be withdrawn,” she asserted.
On the same day, the United States and Canada blacklisted Samidoun, alleging it to be a “sham charity” raising funds for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, categorized as a “terrorist” organization.
Samidoun refuted the accusation.
In 2023, Germany banned Samidoun, claiming it celebrated Hamas-led attacks in southern Israel on October 7, 2023. Khatib recalled, “Some Palestinians were distributing baklava in the street. And we were there with the Samidoun flag.”
Khatib has also been barred from entering Switzerland for a decade, a measure taken when an individual is deemed a “concrete” threat to national security, according to a Swiss government spokesperson. He was denied entry to the Netherlands for a university lecture in October.
During the October 2023 attacks, 1,139 individuals were killed, and over 200 were captured in Gaza. Since then, more than 52,000 people, including over 17,000 children, have died in Israel’s subsequent conflict in Gaza. Israel has justified the offensive as an effort to dismantle Hamas.
According to a CUTA spokesperson, Samidoun is classified as an “extremist” organization, a status that “is not a criminal offense.”
“We are primarily focused on monitoring the leadership, members, activities, disruption of public order, and potential targets of the group,” the spokesperson explained.
Belgium’s right-wing government, which took office in February, is notably more sympathetic to Israel than its predecessor.
Prime Minister Bart De Wever of the New Flemish Alliance party declared that Belgium would not arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu despite an International Criminal Court (ICC) warrant for his arrest on charges of crimes against humanity.
Empat bulan sebelumnya, mantan Perdana Menteri Liberal Alexander De Croo menyatakan sebaliknya.
Koalisi yang dipimpin oleh De Wever bermaksud “melarang organisasi radikal berbahaya seperti Samidoun karena keterkaitannya dengan terorisme atau penyebaran antisemitisme”, menurut dokumen resmi.
Tetapi larangan kemungkinan akan memakan waktu lama untuk dilaksanakan karena posisi Belgia bergantung pada keputusan Uni Eropa dan Dewan Keamanan PBB.
Pengganti De Moor, Anneleen Van Bossuyt, mendukung inisiatif untuk mencabut status pengungsi Khatib. Keputusan tersebut dibuat secara independen oleh komisioner jenderal untuk pengungsi dan orang tanpa kewarganegaraan dan harus didasarkan pada bukti kejahatan serius.
Keputusan untuk mencabut status seseorang dapat diajukan banding, tetapi setelah final, kantor imigrasi dapat mengeluarkan perintah agar seseorang meninggalkan negara.
Kasus ini bergantung pada materi yang otoritas katakan tidak mereka bagikan, bahkan kepada Khatib.
Dhondt memperingatkan tentang “efek mendinginkan” pada kebebasan berekspresi.
Pemerintah menggunakan kasus Khatib sebagai “alat propaganda” untuk menunjukkan kebijakan yang kuat tentang “ekstremisme,” katanya, meskipun mereka “tidak benar-benar bisa mengatakan mengapa [Khatib merupakan ancaman apa pun].”
Khatib membantah semua tuduhan pidato kebencian.
“Jika mereka memiliki sesuatu yang bisa mereka gunakan melawan saya, saya tidak akan duduk di sini. Saya akan berada di penjara.
“Tujuan intimidasi ini adalah untuk mematikan gerakan, membuat contoh dari kita dan mengatakan, ‘Jika Anda melakukan hal yang sama, ini adalah masa depan Anda.’ Kami akan melawan ini.”
‘Kampanye pencemaran nama baik’
Khatib sebelumnya telah menyerukan agar Israel “dibongkar” dan mengatakan, “Kami tidak menyebut serangan Hamas di Israel sebagai serangan teror. Kami menyebutnya perlawanan yang dibenarkan.”
Dilihat sebagai posisi keras oleh beberapa orang, aktivis mainstream telah menjauhkan diri dari Samidoun namun mendesak Brussels untuk mempertahankan kebebasan berekspresi.
Liga Hak Asasi Manusia, sebuah organisasi nirlaba yang telah mengkritik otoritas Belgia karena memperbolehkan transit senjata ke Israel, tidak sepenuhnya mendukung pandangan Khatib tetapi “mengulangi perlunya melindungi kebebasan berekspresi, termasuk untuk pernyataan yang ‘menyinggung, mengejutkan, atau mengganggu’, menurut Pengadilan Hak Asasi Manusia Eropa”.
“Sementara posisi yang dipertahankan oleh Mohammed Khatib dan Samidoun tanpa diragukan lagi dapat digambarkan sebagai radikal, … menurut pengetahuan kami mereka tidak pernah dituntut atas tuduhan pidana apa pun (termasuk untuk pernyataan anti-Semit) atau menyebabkan ketidakstabilan publik,” kelompok hak asasi mengatakan dalam laporan tahun 2024.
Kelompok tersebut mengaitkan kasus Khatib dengan langkah-langkah lain, seperti larangan lokal terhadap keffiyeh dan simbol pro-Palestina lainnya dan penundaan sementara keputusan tentang aplikasi suaka Palestina. Laporan tersebut menyimpulkan bahwa ketidakmampuan untuk mengambil keputusan tentang mencabut status pengungsi Khatib menunjukkan kurangnya bukti terhadapnya.
Uni Yahudi Progresif di Belgia tahun lalu mengecam “kampanye pencemaran nama baik” terhadap Khatib.
“Terlepas dari perbedaan politik yang mungkin kita miliki, ancaman ini tidak dapat diterima dan mengguncang dasar-dasar demokrasi kita.”