Posted on 03/12/2006 6:50:59 PM PST by Boot Hill
© 2006 The Associated Press
AMSTERDAM, Netherlands — Dutch judges convicted nine men Friday of belonging to a terrorist group, a landmark verdict that concludes promoting a violent version of Islam can itself be an act of terrorism.
The case opens a new way for prosecutors to stop potential terrorists and for the Netherlands to tackle the broader problem of the spread of radicalism among Muslim youth.
Lawyers for the men said they will appeal.
Two men received 15- and 13-year prison terms for attempted murder after a clash with police during their arrest. One received a five-year term for possessing a loaded machine gun.
The rest were sentenced to up to two years in prison. All were found to have spread hateful propaganda among their friends and on the Internet, encouraging Muslims to join a holy war against the West.
Though most sentences were short, the judgment was sweeping.
"Anyone who preaches hate and violence lays the basis for committing crimes directed at instilling fear among the people and destroying Dutch democracy," said Judge Rene Elkerbout, reading the three-judge panel's ruling.
"This is what the suspects contributed to. The court weighs that heavily against them."
The convictions were won on the basis of new legislation giving law enforcement agencies more power to investigate terrorist suspects, including wiretapping, and raising the penalties for terrorism-related crimes.
Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende praised "police and prosecutors for getting a conviction."
"This shows that the new laws we've passed are having an effect," he said at his weekly news briefing. Membership in a terrorist organization was made a crime in a law that took effect in August 2004.
"It's the first time a group has been found to be a criminal organization with a terrorist intent, and the suspects got heavier sentences because of that," said prosecution spokesman Wim de Bruin.
The convicted men, known as the Hofstad Group, included Mohammed Bouyeri, who already is serving a life sentence for the 2004 murder of filmmaker Theo van Gogh.
The murder shook the Netherlands, once renowned for its peacefulness and tolerance, and led to a wave of violence in which mosques and churches were destroyed in retaliatory attacks.
Bouyeri was found guilty of being a ringleader of the group, but judges could add nothing to his sentence.
Two Dutch Muslims, Ismael Aknikh and Jason Walters, received the heaviest sentences for throwing a hand grenade during their arrest on Nov. 10, 2004, which injured five policemen. Walters, a convert to Islam, is the son of a U.S. soldier and a Dutch mother.
The Interior Ministry says the two are among 150 radical Muslims in the Netherlands capable of carrying out terrorist attacks. It estimates several thousand other youths are sympathetic to militant causes and susceptible to being recruited.
Muslims make up around 6 percent of the Dutch population.
Prosecutors had argued the Hofstad group was terrorist in nature because in its vision of Islam, violence is the ultimate goal.
But the court rejected that reasoning. Drawing conclusions that the prosecutors had never argued, the judges said the group must be considered a terrorist organization because it "incited violence, or spread hate or threats" against non-Muslims.
They cited as an example the message Bouyeri had impaled in Van Gogh's corpse with a knife. It threatened Dutch politicians with death and Western governments with destruction.
Similar texts were found in possession of other group members, in which "the killing of nonbelievers in general and some politicians in particular is directly discussed," the ruling said.
"In addition, they talk about the great fear that this will cause. There can be no other conclusion than that these are murder threats with a terrorist intent, namely the destruction of political and constitutional structures and inspiring great fear in the populace," the ruling said.
Group members attended cult-like meetings at Bouyeri's home under the guidance of a spiritual leader, Redouan al-Issar, who fled the country shortly before Van Gogh's murder and is now believed to be in jail in Syria.
Defense lawyer Ronald van der Horst called the judgment "scandalous." He said, by the judges' reasoning "you can be imprisoned for many years simply for having papers that the authorities say you shouldn't have."
Van der Horst, who represented Aknikh, said that other than Bouyeri, the defendants had no link with Van Gogh's killing and were just a loosely knit group of friends.
But Geert Wilders, an anti-immigration politician who was threatened in Bouyeri's letter, said the ruling didn't go far enough.
"This is a judgment befitting a banana republic: very weak and unacceptable," he said, adding that judges "don't understand the threat posed by Muslim extremism."
promoting a violent version of Islam can itself be an act of terrorism.
I guess if you beat a mule hard enough with a 4x4, you get it's attention after all.
Sura 9:5 of satans “Koranus,” “Slay the idolaters wherever you find them, and take them captives and besiege them and lie in wait for them in every ambush.”
Aap aap ahh dap dap!!!!!
It's a religion of peace
It's a religion of peace
It aint Slim W, but this'll gitr done!
Kill A Commie For Mommie
And the violent version is different from any other because.....?
It isn't.
But we are only charging and locking up those that we can PROVE ARE VIOLENT OR INCITING VIOLENCE. (Well, in Australia and The Netherlands, anyway.)
The rest have a choice. If there are non-violent muslims, their line starts over there...LOL!
Hopefully Europe is waking up to the fact that Islam is Islam, there is no "moderate" version.
There are Muslims and Muslims In Name Only.
If you're a true Muslim, you are for Shariah law. This is undeniable.
Why can't the Europeans distinguish between thought and speech on the one hand, and incitement to violence and violence on the other? They keep conflating the two.
Certainly the cretinous Islamonazis should be locked up for inciting violence. But one should be allowed to preach hate. I hate murderous, barbarous, Islamonazis (a distinct Muslim sub-group), and should be allowed to preach it. Would I be locked up in the Netherlands if I preached that rational distaste?
Hard to believe. A hint of rationality found in Western Europe. It'll be overturned, not to fear.
That is a socialist problem, they brought on themselves. It makes no sense and neither do the other things they believe in.
Nice.
We need Rico style laws inacted specifically for going after the religion of peace.
The patriot act was a good start.
"Though most sentences were short, the judgment was sweeping."
No doubt the convicts will repent while serving their short sentences. Ha.
The only short sentence that would change these guy's minds would be something like:
"You shall be taken from this courtroom and used to plug a hole in a dike."
As I stated before:
Eight others convicted, one of the convicted being a son, and muslim convert, of an American soldier. This is the most shocking part of the article. Here we have on one hand a known perp already convicted, and on the other, a group that was KNOWN for inciting hatred in Denmark. What do they all have in common, children? That's it! ISLAM.
There in lies the problem that everyone will avoid for FEAR of being labeled, incorrectly of course, a racist. Remember, cowards avoid the truth, and freedom loses in the end. Don't get your hopes down though...it beats being called a racist in the eyes of cowards.
As I stated before:
Eight others convicted, one of the convicted being a son, and muslim convert, of an American soldier. This is the most shocking part of the article. Here we have on one hand a known perp already convicted, and on the other, a group that was KNOWN for inciting hatred in Denmark. What do they all have in common, children? That's it! ISLAM.
There in lies the problem that everyone will avoid for FEAR of being labeled, incorrectly of course, a racist. Remember, cowards avoid the truth, and freedom loses in the end. Don't get your hopes down though...it beats being called a racist in the eyes of cowards.
As I stated before:
Eight others convicted, one of the convicted being a son, and muslim convert, of an American soldier. This is the most shocking part of the article. Here we have on one hand a known perp already convicted, and on the other, a group that was KNOWN for inciting hatred in Denmark. What do they all have in common, children? That's it! ISLAM.
There in lies the problem that everyone will avoid for FEAR of being labeled, incorrectly of course, a racist. Remember, cowards avoid the truth, and freedom loses in the end. Don't get your hopes down though...it beats being called a racist in the eyes of cowards.
Triple Post!
That's a 1st!
Sorry FReepers.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1594464/posts
Better and better all the time.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1595025/posts
And don't forget this one:
Holland Launches the Immigrant Quiz.
Let's start counting the winnings. Australia implemented stringent new anti-terror laws and told the mohammadans who want sharia they might as well think about going home, it's just not going to happen.
In Germany several Southern States maintain that 200 items of the koran are against the German Constitution. I can barely contain myself to see what happens with that one.
The Netherlands now has a Quiz. Well, well. What next.
There must be more, is there anything I have forgotten? It's time for the West to take back its civilization from the barbarians that have invaded and have been trying to take over. Is it too late for Britain? I hope not.
HEY SCUMBAG! THAT MESSAGE WORKS BOTH WAYS.
We need Rico style laws inacted specifically for going after the religion of peace.
There ay go..Give that man a cigar ..We wire tap the mob all the time ..no problem..We better get serious here. I visit Amsterdam every year . The last 2 years I've noticed my once VERY liberal friends there becoming more and more rational abou tthe Moslem threat . I hop ethey contine to wake up. I know the citizens of Amsterdam are seriously pissed off that their mayor , who once rode around town on his bike, basically has to live in hiding from the muzzies now.My buddy even told me that most Moslem men in amsterdam are shaving off their beards so as not to be too obvious anymore.
"The convicted men, known as the Hofstad Group, included Mohammed Bouyeri, who already is serving a life sentence for the 2004 murder of filmmaker Theo van Gogh."
"Bouyeri was found guilty of being a ringleader of the group, but judges could add nothing to his sentence."
Well, then they should subtract from his sentence. They should shorten it considerably. While still keeping it a life sentence.
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