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March 10, 2006

Holland: Hofstad Group - Nine Islamists Are Jailed

Today, a Dutch court handed down jail sentences to nine individuals of the so-called "Hofstad Group" Islamists mainly of Moroccan origin, states Radio Netherlands, also Expatica, AP via Forbes.com, and ninemsn.com.

The individuals were mostly associates of Mohammed Bouyeri (pictured) who murdered Dutch filmmaker Theo van Gogh on November 2 2004 in broad daylight, after the victim had created a film, Submission, which "offended Muslim sensitivities".

The trial had commenced in the high-security Amsterdam-Osdorp courthouse on December 5, 2005, when fourteen individuals, arrested shortly after Bouyeri had committed his murder, were brought before the court. Bouyeri was also one of the accused, but as he was already convicted for the murder of van Gogh, he knew he could not be prosecuted again, and was reluctant to make any effort to attend this trial.

A fortnight into the trial, on December 22, one of those accused, Rachid B., an associate of Bouyeri, was released on orders of the court, which judged that even if convicted, his sentence would not have exceeded the 13 months which he had already spent in custody as a remand prisoner, awaiting trial.

The trial which ended today was the first time powers of a new terror law (article 140A) were being put into practice, which prohibits "membership of a criminal organisation with terrorist intent." A maximum sentence of 15 years can be imposed under this new legislation.

Today, the panel of three judges ordered that four of those be acquitted. Of the remaining nine individuals, who were found guilty, they received jail sentences ranging from one year to 15 years.

Ismael Aknikh and Muslim convert Jason Walters, the son of an American soldier and a Dutch mother, received the heaviest sentences. Aknikh received a 13 year sentence, and Jason Walters received 15 years.

Aknikh and Walters were convicted for attempted murder, which relates to an incident which happened on Thursday 11 November 2004, when an apartment that they were in had been surrounded by armed police, near Holland Spoor station in the Hague. As police tried to arrest them, they threw a hand grenade which injured four officers, two of them seriously. In the lead-up to the grenade-throwing, they had exchanged gunfire with police. One of the pair had been shot in the shoulder when he failed to obey police instructions during his arrest.

Nourridine El Fatmi, also known as Faoud, was jailed for 5 years. When arrested in Amsterdam on 22 June 2005, he was found to be in possession of a loaded machine pistol. Prosecutors had asked for a 10-year term in his case.

On the first day of the trial, a statement from a witness called Malika Chabi was read out in court. It said that El Fatmi and Bouyeri had stolen sheep from a farm, and Bouyeri had used these as test-run practice for his murder of van Gogh.

Presiding judge Allard de Boer said today that "The group ... spread texts inciting violence and threatened terrorist crimes. Threatening to carry out terrorist crimes strikes public order in the heart ... He who sows hatred and preaches violence is laying the basis for crimes aimed at instilling fear in the population and to destroy the Dutch rule of law."

Only four of the accused, which included Bouyeri, who wore a red checkered headscarf, were in court to hear the results. Bouyeri was declared by the court to have been the leader of the group.

Reactions to the verdict have been mixed. Dick Leurdijk, a terror expert from the Clingendael Institute claimed that the case was important as setting a precedent for future trials and prosecutions.

The public prosecutor said after the case that he was more or less satisfied with the events.

The Hofstad group, named after a slang term for the Hague, had been, according to the prosecutor, following an ultra radical-type of Sunni Muslim belief - the so-called 'Takfir Wal-Hijra'.

Another article from Expatica claimed that prime minister Jan Peter Balkenends said he was happy that convictions had been secured.

Interior Minister Johan Remkes claimed the authorities had no plans to appeal for higher jail terms.

But MP Geert Wilders was not so pleased with the results. Wilders, whose name had been on a hit list pinned with a knife to Theo van Gogh's chest by Bouyeri, has had to live in fear of his life, under constant security. He said the reasoning of the court - that the group were terrorists because they intended to threaten, rather than commit acts of terror, was a "judgement by a Banana republic - very pitiful and unacceptable."

Lawyers for those convicted today have said that their clients will appeal against convictions and sentences.

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at March 10, 2006 8:21 PM

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