Grand Mosque Imam must leave Belgium
In February the Imam appeared before the Parliamentary Investigative Committee into the terrorist attacks on 22 March 2016.
Mr Francken says that he took the decision not to renew the Imam’s visa is based on information he had received from the Belgian security services.
"I received information that the man is a threat to our national security as he is a Salaphist. He is one of the main ideologists behind Wahabism in Europe”, Mr Francken.
Salafisme is a very conservative and radical tendancy within Islam that has a lot of support in Saudi-Arabia and the Gulf States.
"Salaphism already has many deaths on it conscience here with the jihad and the attacks by IS”, Mr Francken added.