DR ‹ › Belgian-Moroccan kickboxer Jamal Ben Saddik has been sentenced by the Antwerp Criminal Court to four years in prison for his role in the July 2024 kidnapping of a port worker, Belgian media reported on Wednesday. According to prosecutors, Ben Saddik and two accomplices forced the victim into a vehicle and threatened him with a firearm before releasing him and vandalizing his home. Investigators linked the abduction of the 29-year-old dockworker to a dispute over a cocaine shipment at the Port of Antwerp. Ben Saddik denied any involvement, claiming he had only spoken to the victim about selfies they had taken together, but the court rejected his explanation. His accomplices were also convicted: Hicham E. F., the driver, received 40 months in prison; Mohamed Z., who brandished the firearm, was sentenced to four years; while the victim's uncle, Abdelkarim S., was given 30 months for providing personal information to the group. The kickboxer had already been arrested in July 2023 in connection with the same case. After several weeks in detention, he was granted conditional release in September 2024, initially without an electronic bracelet, before prosecutors successfully appealed to place him under electronic monitoring. Following his release, Ben Saddik returned to competition, securing a dramatic knockout victory over Uku Jurjendal at GLORY 98 in Rotterdam on February 22. This is not his first legal incident. In 2021, he was briefly jailed for selling encrypted phones used in criminal activities and was later sentenced to 40 months in prison for money laundering and fraud.
