In 2008, the Belgian newspaper Het Laatste Nieuws reported that Abdelkader Belliraj, a Moroccan-Belgian arms smuggler, had murdered Al-Ahdal, el-Beher and Jah al-Rasul, a driver for the Saudi embassy in Brussels.
The comic first appeared in the Flemish newspaper Het Laatste Nieuws, and was later also published in the Netherlands and in Wallonia in French.
It included in its charter an explicit reference to the liberal declaration of Oxford, or Oxford Manifesto, which offered guarantees of editorial continuity for readers and journalists even in the event of the newspaper being sold.
Het Laatste Nieuws ("The Latest News"), a Dutch language newspaper based in Brussels, Belgium
Het Laatste Nieuws | Het Nieuwsblad | Sterren Dansen Op Het IJs | Het Vrije Volk | Het Notite Boeck der Christelyckes Kercke op de Manner of Philips Burgh | These joists land on a beam. Between some joists is a form of ''pugging'' used for insulation and air sealing. Image: Rijksdienst voor het Cultureel Erfgoed | Omloop Het Nieuwsblad | Het Steen | Het Loo Palace | Het Klokhuis | Het Huis Anubis | Het Gesprek | 2007 Omloop Het Volk – Women's race |
In June 2005 De Gucht caused a minor diplomatic spat with the Netherlands when he referred to the Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende as "a mix between Harry Potter and a rigid bourgeois without charisma" in an interview with Het Laatste Nieuws, a popular Belgian newspaper.
Contrary to the other major Flemish newspapers like De Standaard/Het Nieuwsblad (with Spike and Suzy) and Het Volk (with Nero), Het Laatste Nieuws had no local, Flemish comic strip but only published Dutch comics by Marten Toonder or Hans G. Kresse, which left an opportunity for Merho.