Belgian authorities have launched an investigation looking into how a Syrian national who was arrested last week on suspicion of being involved in war crimes for the so-called Islamic State (IS) group could be granted refugee status.
The 38-year-old Syrian had left Syria in 2015 but was not detained until last week over partaking the executions of civilians who refused to swear allegiance to the jihadist movement.
Belgian state prosecutors are yet to determine to what degree the man may have participated in the IS killings near the historic city of Palmyra in central Syria.
His exact role within the terrorist organization is also yet to be determined.
Read more: Germany and Spain begin legal proceedings against IS suspects
Protecting the innocent
Belgium's Secretary of State for Asylum and Migration, Nathalie de Moor, stressed that the asylum procedure is meant to "protect people threatened with war or persecution, not those who are guilty of war crimes."
De Moor added that if the man was proven to be guilty, he would immediately be stripped of the refugee status granted to him eight years ago.
Millions of Syrians have fled the violence that began with the onset of the Syrian war in 2011, with many reaching the European Union since 2015.
Read more: Germany arrests alleged Syrian war criminal
with AFP