posted on Dec, 5 2005 @ 10:59 PM
The trial of several Muslim men, including the convicted murderer of Theo Van Gogh, began today in the Netherlands in the first test of a new Dutch
law that bans membership in a terrorist organization. Prosecutors accuse the men of organizing a group to review terrorist training materials and
advocate war against the government of the Netherlands in order to replace it with an Islamic state. A verdict in the trial isn't expected until
February.
today.reuters.com
AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - A group of suspected Islamists, including the jailed killer of a Dutch filmmaker, watched films of beheadings, a court heard as
they went on trial on Monday for plotting attacks and belonging to a terrorist group.
Dutch police arrested the 14 men after the murder of Theo van Gogh last November by Mohammed Bouyeri, who shot and stabbed the filmmaker before
slashing his throat, an act prosecutors said at his trial in July "evoked beheadings in the Middle East, Chechnya, Afghanistan and Iraq".
Prosecutors suspect Bouyeri, now serving life in jail, held meetings in his home for the group, who they say wanted to destabilize society establish
an Islamic state through violence.
The trial is a test of a new Dutch law, which introduced the charge of "membership of a criminal organization with terrorist intent" carrying a
maximum sentence of 15 years. The group of Muslim men are of largely Moroccan immigrant descent.
Please visit the link provided for the complete story.
It'll be interesting to see how this trial proceeds and the law is applied in the Netherlands, as it will probably be a bellwether for terrorist
groups will be treated in other European nations.