Europe's Boys of Jihad

Posted on April 5th, 2005 by martijn.
Categories: Islam in the Netherlands, Murder on theo Van Gogh and related issues, Religious and Political Radicalization, Young Muslims, Youth culture (as a practice).


An article in the LA Times refers to events here in the Netherlands.

Last year, a group of young Internet enthusiasts was charged with unleashing terrorism in the Netherlands: the killing of filmmaker Theo van Gogh and a plot to assassinate politicians. Police captured Jason Walters, 19, in a raid that left him and three officers wounded. His 17-year-old brother was also jailed.

Walters’ Internet chats reveal a casual, adolescent cold-bloodedness, according to excerpts published in the Dutch media. A spokesman for the AIVD intelligence service, the leading Dutch anti-terrorism agency, confirmed that the transcripts were authentic.

In an Internet conversation on Sept. 28, 2003, Walters joked about beheading the Dutch prime minister and bragged about a monthlong training session at an Afghan terrorism camp. The son of a Dutch mother and American father said he had fooled his family into thinking he was in Britain.

He urged his chat partner, “Galas03,” to join him on a future trip. “They will train you how to use guns,” Walters wrote, using the name “Mujaheed.” “I can assemble and dismantle a Kalashnikov blindfolded.”

“Is shooting difficult?” Galas03 asked.

“No way, man, it is not that hard,” Walters responded. “I even had to roll over with a pistol and then shoot and that went all right, praise Allah.”

Walters became radicalized at about 16, investigators say. Fellow suspect Samir Azzouz, 18, was equally precocious. Azzouz was first detained in 2002 in Ukraine en route to joining Muslim combatants in Chechnya, AIVD spokesman Vincent van Steen said.

For the whole article: (more…)

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Europe’s Boys of Jihad

Posted on April 5th, 2005 by .
Categories: Islam in the Netherlands, Murder on theo Van Gogh and related issues, Religious and Political Radicalization, Young Muslims, Youth culture (as a practice).


An article in the LA Times refers to events here in the Netherlands.

Last year, a group of young Internet enthusiasts was charged with unleashing terrorism in the Netherlands: the killing of filmmaker Theo van Gogh and a plot to assassinate politicians. Police captured Jason Walters, 19, in a raid that left him and three officers wounded. His 17-year-old brother was also jailed.

Walters’ Internet chats reveal a casual, adolescent cold-bloodedness, according to excerpts published in the Dutch media. A spokesman for the AIVD intelligence service, the leading Dutch anti-terrorism agency, confirmed that the transcripts were authentic.

In an Internet conversation on Sept. 28, 2003, Walters joked about beheading the Dutch prime minister and bragged about a monthlong training session at an Afghan terrorism camp. The son of a Dutch mother and American father said he had fooled his family into thinking he was in Britain.

He urged his chat partner, “Galas03,” to join him on a future trip. “They will train you how to use guns,” Walters wrote, using the name “Mujaheed.” “I can assemble and dismantle a Kalashnikov blindfolded.”

“Is shooting difficult?” Galas03 asked.

“No way, man, it is not that hard,” Walters responded. “I even had to roll over with a pistol and then shoot and that went all right, praise Allah.”

Walters became radicalized at about 16, investigators say. Fellow suspect Samir Azzouz, 18, was equally precocious. Azzouz was first detained in 2002 in Ukraine en route to joining Muslim combatants in Chechnya, AIVD spokesman Vincent van Steen said.

For the whole article: (more…)

0 comments.