C L O S E R – Hofstadtrial 9 convicted

Severe sentences in the Dutch trial against the alleged Hofstadgroup (among them Mohammed B. – who killed Theo van Gogh -, and Jason W.)

Dutch Court Convicts 9 Under Tougher Antiterror Law – New York Times

A Dutch court on Friday found nine members of a radical Islamist group guilty of belonging to a terrorist organization and handed down sentences of as much as 15 years in prison.

The convictions were the first under a tough new law here that makes it a crime to belong to a terrorist group or to boast about plans for crimes or violent acts.

Jason Walters, 21, received 15 years, and his roommate Ismael Aknikh, 23, 13 years for attempted murder, having hurled a hand grenade at five police officers who had come to arrest them. Nouredine al-Fatmi, 23, received a five-year sentence. He reached for a loaded pistol in his backpack at the time of his arrest.

Muhammad al-Morabit and Ahmed Hamdi were sentenced to two years, and Muhammad Fahmi Boughaba and Zine Labidine received terms of 18 months. Youssef Ettoumi was sentenced to one year. Three men were sentenced to time served, and five others were acquitted.

Also in the Amsterdam court was Muhammad Bouyeri, who was described as the leader of the gang — the so-called Hofstad group. Mr. Bouyeri was found guilty of belonging to a terrorist group but was not sentenced because he is already serving a life term for the killing of the filmmaker Theo van Gogh, who made a film denouncing the plight of abused Muslim women.

The ruling is expected to set the tone for the future treatment of suspected extremists under the antiterrorist law, which became effective in August 2004. The law provoked intense debate at the time, with some lawyers and politicians arguing that people who boasted about violent plans or even threatened crimes could not be convicted unless they committed a crime.

In earlier, similar trials, suspects had been acquitted because the courts had found plans for terrorist actions not to be concrete enough. But the new law has changed the criteria.

“Threatening to carry out terrorist crimes strikes at the heart of public order,” the judges said in their ruling. Spreading hatred and preaching violence, they said, “lay the groundwork for crimes that aim to instill fear in the population and to destroy the Dutch rule of law.”

Lawyers for Mr. Walters and Mr. Aknikh said they would appeal.

This trial took place under the new anti-terrorism laws in the Netherlands and, thus can be seen as a test for these new laws.

Dutch conviction of nine Islamists tests new laws

A Dutch court on Friday convicted nine radical Islamists, including the murderer of film director Theo van Gogh, of belonging to a terror network in a trial that tested the new anti-terror laws in the Netherlands.

Jason Walters and Ismail Akhnikh were jailed for 15 and 13 years respectively after being found guilty of attempted murder and of belonging to a terrorist group. The two men threw a hand grenade injuring five police officers during a siege at a house in The Hague soon after the Van Gogh murder in November 2004.

Nouriddin el-Fatmi was jailed for five years after he was arrested in Amsterdam in June last year carrying a loaded 9mm machine-gun and ammunition in a rucksack. The sentences were lower than those demanded by prosecutors.

Six other men were sentenced to between one and two years in prison. The Muslim men, aged in their 20s, belonged to the Hofstad Group, which the court said was a criminal organisation with terrorist intentions. Three of them were freed as they had spent longer in custody.

Dutch authorities introduced new legislation outlawing membership of groups such as Hofstad in August 2004. The aim was to permit the prosecution of suspected terrorists before they carried out an attack. The move was in response to the heightened terror threat and the collapse of earlier trials in the Netherlands for lack of admissible evidence.

While there was no conclusive evidence that the group had planned attacks, the court said it had discussed, studied and distributed hateful material and texts “threatening terrorist crimes”.

Mohammed Bouyeri – described by the court as the group’s “leader and inspiration” – was also found guilty or spreading a hateful ideology. But judges said he could not be sentenced further as he had been jailed for life in July for murdering Van Gogh.

The case against five defendants was dismissed.

The reactions on these sentences were varied widely.

Praise and scorn for Hofstad convictions

Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende indicated on Friday he was happy the police and the prosecution service (OM) had secured convictions against nine men in the Hofstad terrorist trial.

Although the sentences ranging from a few months to 15 years were lower than the OM sought, Interior Minister Johan Remkes said the authorities had no plans to appeal for higher jail terms. “We have not come away empty-handed,” a spokesperson for the prosecution service said.

Lawyers for the convicted men said they would appeal against the convictions and sentences.

The highest sentences, 15 and 13 years, were imposed respectively on Jason W. and
Ismail A. who were involved in a 14-hour siege at a home in The Hague in November 2004. The siege began after five police officers were injured by a hand grenade as they tried to arrest the two men. There were more grenades in the building.

The panel of three judges convicted W. and A. and the seven others of membership of a organisation with terrorist aims of inciting hatred and threatening people. However, the court ruled the grenade was thrown with intent to kill but not with the aim to further the organisation’s terrorist objectives.

The court also found the Hofstad group was a terrorist organisation because the members planned to incite hatred and threaten but not terrorist attacks.

MP Geert Wilders described this reasoning as a “judgement by a Banana republic – very pitiful and unacceptable.”

He accused the judges of being “irresolute” and not understanding the nature of Muslim extremism.

Wilders is a vocal critic of Islam and had to go into hiding for several months after the murder of filmmaker Theo van Gogh due to threats to his own life.

Mohammed Bouyeri, 28, who is serving a life sentence for murdering Van Gogh, was declared the leader of the Hofstad group by the court on Friday. Under Dutch law he could not get an additional sentence.