Hey, American Artsy-fartsy Left, this is your wake-up call...
Posted on 11/04/2004 5:24:05 PM PST by aculeus
THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) - A letter left on the body of a Dutch filmmmaker murdered in Amsterdam contained death threats against a politician and was signed by a suspected terrorist group, the justice minister said Thursday, as police pressed an investigation into radical Islamic groups.
Dutch authorities have arrested nine men - eight of Moroccan - all believed tied to Islamic militant groups, in Tuesday's shooting and stabbing of Theo van Gogh. Authorities have said they are investigating possible links between the suspects and international terrorist groups, including those responsible for the Casablanca bombings in May last year.
Justice Minister Piet Hein Donner said Thursday the note contained a "direct warning" to the film's screenwriter, Ayaan Hirst Ali, a Somali-born lawmaker who has outraged fellow Muslims by criticizing Islamic customs and the failure of Muslim families to adopt Dutch ways. She had been under police protection before the slaying.
Van Gogh received death threats after the film was released in August.
Donner said the way the 5-page letter "was presented indicates that it is not from one person, but a movement."
The letter, which was addressed to Ali, said "I know definitely that you, Hirsi Ali, will go down."
It was signed "Saifu Deen al Muwahhied."
The chief suspect, who has been identified only as Mohammed B., 26, holds dual Dutch-Moroccan nationality. He was arrested after being wounded in the leg during a shootout with police shortly after the slaying and was to appear before a judge Friday, when prosecutors said they would file charges.
It was not clear what charges the other eight suspects would face.
Mohammed B.'s lawyer, Jan Peter Plasman, protested the release of the letter, saying it would prejudice the case against his client. He declined to comment on whether B. was innocent.
The letter was typed in Dutch and Arabic, and threatened to bring down "nonbelievers."
"I know definitely that America will crumble," it said.
Van Gogh will be cremated on Tuesday in a public service.
A Moroccan diplomat has traveled to the Netherlands to assist in the investigation, and more than 75 detectives have been put on the case, Dutch officials said.
Authorities described Mohammed B. as "an associate" of five men who were briefly detained last year, prosecutors said.
The five had been suspected of providing support to terrorists in Spain and Morocco who were responsible for the bombing in Casablanca in May 2003, Donner told parliament at the time.
But there had been insufficient evidence to prove any charges, and the five were released.
Four of them were among those arrested this week. The fifth was Samir Azzouz, an 18-year-old of Moroccan descent who was arrested in June and is awaiting trial for allegedly planning to attack a Dutch airport, nuclear reactor or Parliament.
Since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in the United States, the Dutch secret service has repeatedly warned that the Netherlands could be a target. It is shadowing 150 extremists around the clock and has said that Muslim immigrant youths are being recruited.
The Dutch public has widely perceived Van Gogh's killing as an attack on free speech. Politicians have called for an emergency debate on security officials' failure to prevent it.
Despite widespread condemnation of the murder by mainstream Muslim groups, Muslims fear reprisals, and ethnic tension was evident in Dutch streets.
"This is definitely going to happen more often," said Nicolette Toering, visiting the spot where Van Gogh was killed. She rejected Muslims' concerns of being targeted by violence and said unemployed immigrants should leave the country.
Samir Alami, a Dutch-born man of Moroccan descent, said he felt uncomfortable in the Netherlands for the first time while riding the train to Amsterdam to visit the crime scene. "People were giving me angry stares, you could see it in their faces," he said. "I feel terrible."
AP-ES-11-04-04 1743EST
Hey, American Artsy-fartsy Left, this is your wake-up call...
Ping.
I guess they read her book and didn't like it!
Not in your lifetime, raghead.
Was that right under the part where it said "I know definitely that Kerry will win the election"...?
I thought when he was murdered, they were unaware of the race/religion of his attacker.
deny deny deny
datum.
Only in their wet and wild fantasies.
I hope we're smart enough to not this happen here.
"The five had been suspected of providing support to terrorists in Spain and Morocco who were responsible for the bombing in Casablanca in May 2003...But there had been insufficient evidence to prove any charges, and the five were released."
Hey Europa, wake the heck up! When are we just going to start executing these terrorists?
Isreal, this means you too. Eichman could be executed, an old man, but all the young killers today must be permitted to live?
So, all those leftists saying it was the work of one man are wrong? He was part of a terrorist group?
Charming
Yeah, what a "nuisance" those "militants" are.
Ping
More the movie she made together with Theo van Gogh.
Thanks. More reason for the US and Holland to unite against terrorism.
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