The decision was first revealed by the Belgian Flemish public television VRT and confirmed this week by Belgian Secretary of State for Asylum and Migration Sammy Mahdi based on information from the security services “due to signs of a serious danger to national security,” he explained in a statement.

An imam in Belgium who had called for the “burning of Jews” was banned from Belgium last October, the Belgian government said.

The decision was first revealed by the Belgian Flemish public television VRT and confirmed this week by Belgian Secretary of State for Asylum and Migration Sammy Mahdi based on information from the security services “due to signs of a serious danger to national security,” he explained in a statement.

The Moroccan imam, Mohamed Toujgani, was served with an order to leave the country and informed that he was banned from entering the country for 10 years. According to VRT, the man has already left the Belgian territory. His residence permit was withdrawn on October 12.

“This man was probably the most influential preacher in Belgium,” Mahdi told the  Belgian parliament.

Toujgani preached until last year at the Al-Khalil mosque in Molenbeek, one of the largest places of worship for Muslims in Belgium and a Brussels commmune known to have been the place of residence of several of the terrorists who committed the attacks in Paris and Brussels of 2015-2016.

Toujgani is also president of the League of Moroccan Imams of Belgium whic is said to propagate extremism and to practice espionage.

In 2009, in a video he called for the burning of Jews and in again in 2019. Toujgani had apologized for his remarks, citing “a slip” related to what he called “a war” waged by Israel against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.