CNN correspondent Erin McLaughlin went to Belgium to investigate the release from prison of Islamic terrorist recruiters who are recruiting young men to travel to Syria and join the Islamic State, as well as attack targets in Europe.
McLaughlin talked to a woman in Brussels, Saliha Ben Ali, whose son, Sabri Refla, ended up becoming radicalized and traveling to Syria. Ben Ali says she received a phone call from Syria where she was told, "Congratulations. Your son just died as a martyr."
McLaughlin then reported on a trial in Belgium, where the recruiters who sent Ben Ali's son to Syria were released with others after their convictions and allowed to walk free during their appeal. McLaughlin went to the neighborhood where one of those recruiters lived. She tried to contact him at his home, but could not contact him there. She later saw him on the street, but he refused to speak with her.
Asking about the release of these terrorists, McLaughlin talked to the head of the trials in Brussels, Luc Hennart.
"How is it that a convicted member of a terrorist organization sentenced to seven years in prison is allowed to walk free after his trial?" McLaughlin asked.
"The judge says that this man's behavior was good throughout the trial, and this decision of the judge needs to be respected," Hennart said.
This raises questions of how serious Belgium takes the threat terrorism poses, especially in the wake of the attacks in Paris and Brussels.