Shortly after his arrest his case made waves in Belgium, when he confessed to having carried out six contract murders here in the 1980s. One attack saw the murder of the Imam of the Brussels mosque in the Jubelpark, as well as his assistant, who surprised the assassins. Another was the shooting in 1989 of Joseph Wybran, who as well as being a senior physician at Erasmus hospital was also a prominent representative of the Jewish community.

On hearing of the sentence, Prof. Wybran's widow Emmy Wybran said she would be "eternally grateful" to the Moroccan police and justice system. She was less complimentary of their Belgian counterparts, however. "Since Belliraj confessed in February 2008 to the murder of my husband, not a single Belgian policeman has come to see me to explain what's going on," she said. "I have seen no-one and heard from no-one, as if Doctor Joseph Wybran had never existed." Yet Belliraj has admitted to carrying out the murders with accomplices, she pointed out. "Some of them are still free, and living in Belgium. Is something going to happen here now that he's been sentenced? I hope so."