DAR AL HARB - E.U.: TERROR CASE TO BE REOPENED, TERROR TIES TO GROUP WITH THE LEADERSHIP OF MOHAMMAD BOUYERI

Dutch Islamic terror case to be reopened

THE HAGUE - The highest court of appeal in the Hague on Tuesday ordered the case of a radical Muslim sentenced for preparing terrorist attacks to be re-opened, saying that he had been wrongly cleared of membership of a terror organisation.

Samir Azzouz was sentenced to eight years in prison in early December for preparing an attack on Dutch politicians and the intelligence services.

State prosecutors had asked for a 15-year-sentence, and had produced maps of the headquarters of the intelligence services, of parliament and of the Amersterdam-Schiphol airport, annotated with notes in his handwriting.

They also produced as evidence documents on weapons and explosives, chemical products and weapons seized at his house.

The court ruled in December that these preparations were ‘in a nascent stage’ and were ‘clumsy and primitive,’ and therefore cleared Azzouz of the charge of membership of a terror group.

Three of his co-defendants were handed between three and four years in jail. One of the suspects was acquitted, while another was sentenced to three months in prison.

The public prosecutor’s office, which was represented at the Court of Cessation on Tuesday, claims they belonged to a group with links to the Hofsted terror organisation, whose leader, Mohammed Bouyeri, was jailed for life in 2005 for the murder of Dutch filmaker Theo van Gogh.

Pertinent Links:

1) Dutch Islamic terror case to be reopened