Netherlands

[Petronas]

Dutch 'terror plot' trial starts
Thursday, 24 February, 2005, 16:14 GMT

A teenager has gone on trial in the Netherlands on charges of planning terror attacks. Samir Azzouz, 18, is also accused of having links with a Islamic group allegedly involved in the killing of filmmaker Theo van Gogh last year. Police say they found weapons and maps of targeted buildings during a raid at his home last year. Mr Azzouz, who was born in the Netherlands of Moroccan parents, refused to answer questions in court.

An airgun, machine-gun cartridges, as well as maps of Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport and other buildings were found at his home, police said. They say the maps were marked with comments on security measures at the various sites. "Objects found in your house indicate you were in the last phase and that you were just waiting to push the button," a police report read out in court said.

Mr Azzouz is charged with attempted murder, manslaughter, arson and illegally possessing a firearm. Prosecutors also say he may have been linked to a militant Muslim group believed to be behind the murder of van Gogh. Van Gogh was shot dead before having his throat slit while cycling to work in Amsterdam. Among the objects police say they seized from Mr Azzouz's home is also a testament urging his baby daughter to join the Islamic holy war. The search of his home and his arrest in June last year took place in the wake of an armed robbery at a supermarket where he used to work.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4294937.stm

[al-Canine]

More Dutch Plan to Emigrate as Muslim Influx Tips Scales

By MARLISE SIMONS

AMSTERDAM - Paul Hiltemann had already noticed a darkening mood in the Netherlands. He runs an agency for people wanting to emigrate and his client list had surged.

But he was still taken aback in November when a Dutch filmmaker was shot and his throat was slit, execution style, on an Amsterdam street.

In the weeks that followed, Mr. Hiltemann was inundated by e-mail messages and telephone calls. "There was a big panic," he said, "a flood of people saying they wanted to leave the country."

Leave this stable and prosperous corner of Europe? Leave this land with its generous social benefits and ample salaries, a place of fine schools, museums, sports grounds and bicycle paths, all set in a lively democracy?

The answer, increasingly, is yes. This small nation is a magnet for immigrants, but statistics suggest there is a quickening flight of the white middle class. Dutch people pulling up roots said they felt a general pessimism about their small and crowded country and about the social tensions that had grown along with the waves of newcomers, most of them Muslims."The Dutch are living in a kind of pressure cooker atmosphere," Mr. Hiltemann said.

There is more than the concern about the rising complications of absorbing newcomers, now one-tenth of the population, many of them from largely Muslim countries. Many Dutch also seem bewildered that their country, run for decades on a cozy, political consensus, now seems so tense and prickly and bent on confrontation. Those leaving have been mostly lured by large English-speaking nations like Australia, New Zealand and Canada, where they say they hope to feel less constricted.

In interviews, emigrants rarely cited a fear of militant Islam as their main reason for packing their bags. But the killing of the filmmaker Theo van Gogh, a fierce critic of fundamentalist Muslims, seems to have been a catalyst.

"Our Web site got 13,000 hits in the weeks after the van Gogh killing," said Frans Buysse, who runs an agency that handles paperwork for departing Dutch. "That's four times the normal rate."

Mr. van Gogh's killing is the only one the police have attributed to an Islamic militant, but since then they have reported finding death lists by local Islamic militants with the names of six prominent politicians. The effects still reverberate. In a recent opinion poll, 35 percent of the native Dutch questioned had negative views about Islam.

There are no precise figures on the numbers now leaving. But Canadian, Australian and New Zealand diplomats here said that while immigration papers were processed in their home capitals, embassy officials here had been swamped by inquiries in recent months.

Many who settle abroad may not appear in migration statistics, like the growing contingent of retirees who flock to warmer places. But official statistics show a trend. In 1999, nearly 30,000 native Dutch moved elsewhere, according to the Central Bureau of Statistics. For 2004, the provisional figure is close to 40,000. "It's definitely been picking up in the past five years," said Cor Kooijmans, a demographer at the bureau.

Ruud Konings, an accountant, has just sold his comfortable home in the small town of Hilvarenbeek. In March, after a year's worth of paperwork, the family will leave for Australia. The couple said the main reason was their fear for the welfare and security of their two teenage children.

"When I grew up, this place was spontaneous and free, but my kids cannot safely cycle home at night," said Mr. Konings, 49. "My son just had his fifth bicycle stolen." At school, his children and their friends feel uneasy, he added. "They're afraid of being roughed up by the gangs of foreign kids."

Sandy Sangen has applied to move to Norway with her husband and two school-age children. They want to buy a farm in what she calls "a safer, more peaceful place."

Like the Sangens and Koningses, others who are moving speak of their yearning for the open spaces, the clean air, the easygoing civility they feel they have lost. Complaints include overcrowding, endless traffic jams, overregulation. Some cite a rise in antisocial behavior and a worrying new toughness and aggression both in political debates and on the streets.

Until the killing of Pim Fortuyn, a populist anti-immigration politician, in 2002 and the more recent slaying of a teacher by a student, this generation of Dutch people could not conceive of such violence in their peaceful country.

After Mr. van Gogh's killing, angry demonstrations and fire-bombings of mosques and Muslim schools took place. In revenge, some Christian churches were attacked. Mr. Konings said he and many of his friends sensed more confrontation in the making, perhaps more violence.

"I'm a great optimist, but we're now caught in a downward spiral, economically and socially," he said. "We feel we can give our children a better start somewhere else."

Marianne and Rene Aukens, from the rural town of Brunssum, had successful careers, he as director of a local bank, she as a personnel manager. But after much thought they have applied to go to New Zealand. "In my lifetime, all the villages around here have merged, almost all the green spaces have been paved over," said Mr. Aukens, 41. "Nature is finished. There's no more silence; you hear traffic everywhere."

The saying that the Netherlands is "full up" has become a national mantra. It was used cautiously at first, because it had an overtone of being anti-immigrant, anti-Muslim. But many of those interviewed now state it flatly, like Peter Bles. He makes a long commute to a banking job in Amsterdam, but he and his wife are preparing to move to Australia.

"We found people are more polite, less stressed, less aggressive there," Mr. Bles said. "Perhaps stress has a lot to do with the lack of living space. Here we are full up."

Space is indeed at a premium here in Europe's most densely populated nation, where 16.3 million people live in an area roughly the size of Maryland. Denmark, which is slightly larger, has 5.5 million people. Dutch demographers say their country has undergone one of Europe's fastest and most far-reaching demographic shifts, with about 10 percent of the population now foreign born, a majority of them Muslims.

Blaming immigrants for many ills has become commonplace. Conservative Moroccans and Turks from rural areas are accused of disdaining the liberal Dutch ways and of making little effort to adapt. Immigrant youths now make up half the prison population. More than 40 percent of immigrants receive some form of government assistance, a source of resentment among native Dutch. Immigrants say, though, that they are widely discriminated against.

Ms. Konings said the Dutch themselves brought on some of the social frictions. The Dutch "thought that we had to adapt to the immigrants and that we had to give them handouts," she said. "We've been too lenient; now it's difficult to turn the tide."

To Mr. Hiltemann, the emigration consultant, what is remarkable is not only the surge of interest among the Dutch in leaving, but also the type of people involved. "They are successful people, I mean, urban professionals, managers, physiotherapists, computer specialists," he said. Five years ago, he said, most of his clients were farmers looking for more land.

Mr. Buysse, who employs a staff of eight to process visas, concurred. He said farmers were still emigrating as Europe cut agricultural subsidies. '"What is new," he said, "is that Dutch people who are rich or at least very comfortable are now wanting to leave the country."

Copyright 2005*The New York Times Company

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/27/international/europe/27dutch.html?

[Petronas]

Netherlands (Country threat level - 3): A group of heavily armed hijackers held up security staff at the KLM cargo ramp at Amsterdam's Schiphol International Airport (EHAM/AMS) on 25 February 2005 and escaped with an armored truck carrying diamonds and jewelry reportedly worth at least US$99 million. Reports indicate that the robbers disguised themselves as airline workers and intercepted the KLM cargo vehicle as it drove across a runway at approximately 1000 local time, shortly before the goods were to be loaded onto a flight to Antwerp. The assailants threatened the security staff and then escaped in the armored truck. There were no reports of injuries. Authorities found the stolen vehicle in Hoofdorp, which is located near the airport. An investigation into the incident is currently underway.

AIR SECURITY International - HOT SPOTS 2/28/2005

[Petronas]

Dutch 'not prepared for attack'
Thursday, 7 April, 2005, 09:16 GMT 10:16 UK

The authorities in the Netherlands say the country is not yet ready to respond effectively to a terrorist attack. The conclusion follows the country's largest ever anti-terrorism drill, code-named Bonfire.

Thousands of volunteers took part in the drill at the Amsterdam Arena soccer stadium - where a series of fake explosions brought a concert to a halt. Three main flaws in disaster prevention were brought to light in the one-million-euro (£608,000) exercise.

They were: a lack of communication between government services; key figures such as the Terrorism Co-ordinator cannot be reached; and chaos in the exchange of information. There was chaos as thousands of volunteers and rescue workers tried to cope with explosions, panic, hostages and injuries. Ambulances took 20 minutes to arrive and other emergency services took even longer. The exercise was to test response plans in case of an actual terrorist attack.

But the government says it has learned important lessons, such as not to have too many bosses in charge - and to shift the traditional Dutch consensus approach to a more specific one, pinpointing crucial decision-makers.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4419641.stm

[Petronas]

Dutch terror plot case collapses
Wednesday, 6 April, 2005, 16:18 GMT 17:18 UK

A Dutch teenager of Moroccan origin has been cleared of plotting attacks on Amsterdam airport, government buildings and a nuclear reactor. A court in Rotterdam ruled that there was no direct evidence that Samir Azzouz, 18, was preparing a crime. However, he was sentenced to three months in prison for illegally possessing a firearm. He is expected to be released shortly as he has already served 10 months in detention while on remand.

Prosecutors had alleged that Azzouz, who was arrested in June last year, was a Muslim extremist. But his lawyer said material found at his client's home could in no way have been used to cause explosions, and that the evidence against him was weak.

Dutch police said they had found detailed maps of the alleged targets and apparent bomb-making supplies during a raid of his home. Police claimed the maps were marked with comments on security measures at the various sites. Mr Azzouz, who was born in the Netherlands of Moroccan parents, was charged with attempted murder, manslaughter, arson and illegally possessing a firearm.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4417389.stm

[Petronas]

Thatcher got it right on EU, says maverick urging Dutch to vote No
29/05/2005

If Geert Wilders was a rock star, his arrival would seem slightly over the top. As he steps into the square from his coach, fitted with darkened, bullet-proof windows and with VIP emblazoned on the side, he acknowledges the cheers. "You're the best," shouts Monique Feenstra, the owner of a Hilversum coffee shop. Her hero, dressed all in white except for a lime green tie, uses one hand to sweep back his bottle-blond hair, and the other to sign an autograph. "He's beautiful," coos Maria Geijsen, a pensioner.

The perma-tanned Mr Wilders is not a lead singer, however, but a maverick Right-wing MP who fronts his own party, Groep Wilders. His populist campaign will be a key factor if, as the opinion polls predict, the Dutch No camp that he supports wins Wednesday's referendum on the European Union constitution.

Mr Wilders, 42, spent eight months sleeping in a cell in a high-security prison after receiving death threats from Islamist groups before emerging for his No bus tour across the Netherlands. For security reasons, his stops are unannounced.

In opposing the constitution, Mr Wilders finds himself in an uneasy alliance with much of the Dutch Left, which sees it as undermining Holland's social model and traditional liberalism. Both ends of the spectrum are feeding off a growing distrust of mainstream politicians and resentment over a lack of consultation on Europe. Mr Wilders's message about the evils of immigration and the loss of sovereignty to a European superstate is, he said inspired by Margaret Thatcher. "She rejected Europe very strongly and as a result today, because we were weak, the Dutch are paying Brussels what the British should pay. British people know their history and are sceptical about Europe. They are very wise and we can learn from them," he said.

Michael Howard, he believes, should have been bolder in the general election. "On immigration, the Conservatives should have played the card a bit stronger and earlier." It was in Hilversum, an affluent town 30 miles from Amsterdam, that the politician Pim Fortuyn, whose views Mr Wilders echoes, was killed three years ago. Since then, immigration has been at the heart of political debate and Mr Wilders has made it the centrepiece of his campaign. With 1.7 million immigrants among a population of 16 million, Holland has the highest concentration of Muslims in the EU.

"I am not a xenophobe at all but I want to preserve our culture," he said. "Islam and democracy will never be compatible in the next thousand years. We should forget about a moderate Islam and instead invest in Muslim people and integrate them into our democracy. We have been too tolerant of intolerance. Immigration of non-Westerners should cease for the next five years. If you look at the lists of domestic violence, dependence on social schemes and crime, they are in the top three of all." Miss Feenstra, 40, agreed. "Moroccans and Turks come over here, they don't work, don't speak Dutch and we pay for everything."

The despairing Yes campaign, according to the latest opinion poll, is trailing by 14 points at 43 per cent. Despite having the support of the government, main opposition parties, the unions and most of the media, the public is not responding to its entreaties. "The government is running a very bad campaign," said Jan Paternotte, the chairman of Holland's Young Democrats and leader of a Yes team which is trailing Mr Wilders around the country in an attempt to reduce his impact.

"Every day, the prime minister or some senior minister says something stupid, like if it's No there will be another referendum next year to get the right answer." As he accepted a gift of his favourite Gouda from Bert van Vliet, the owner of a cheese shop, a confident Mr Wilders said that the murder of Mr Fortuyn had made it easier to break political correctness taboos on issues such as immigration. "The Dutch are fed up with being ignored," he said. "There is a huge gap between the political elite and the vox populi. People want to listen to me, get a signature, a picture and discuss why they should vote against this. I feel very happy."

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2005/05/29/wdutch29.xml&sSheet=/news/2005/05/29/ixworld.html

[Petronas]

Good for the Dutch! Too bad it took poor Mr. van Gogh having his throat slit and several politicians having to go into hiding to avoid a similar fate at the hands of those being preached to by these Imams.

Verdonk orders three imams to leave
16 June 2005

AMSTERDAM — Immigration and Integration Minister Rita Verdonk has ordered three imams accused of being a threat to public order and national security to get out of the Netherlands. The trio have been accused of preaching a militant anti-western message at Al Fourkaan mosque in Eindhoven and allowing young people to be recruited for Jihad. They will be expelled if they do not leave the country voluntarily, Verdonk has vowed. She has given them a month in which they can challenge her order but they cannot stay in the Netherlands pending the outcome of any appeal. Lawyer Marq Wijngaarden is representing the three imams says he will go to court to block the minister's order. He did not want to comment further as he has not yet read the full text of Verdonk's decision.

The Dutch intelligence service AIVD indicated that the imams "contribute to the radicalisation of Muslims in the Netherlands", the Justice Ministry said earlier this year. The ministry claimed the imams tried to recruit, or tolerated the recruiting, of Muslims for Jihad, or holy war. They are also accused of using their sermons to urge Muslims to "isolate" themselves from the rest of Dutch society. The AIVD said the mosque in Eindhoven disseminated the Salafist philosophy — which is strongly opposed to Western society and the imams there were sponsoring aversion of the West in their sermons.

http://www.expatica.com/source/site_article.asp?subchannel_id=1&story_id=21124&name=Verdonk+orders+three+imams+to+leave

[Petronas]

Terror suspects held in Amsterdam and London
23 June 2005

AMSTERDAM — A 22-year-old man has been arrested in Amsterdam as part of the investigation into a suspected Muslim terror group in the Netherlands. The suspect was armed with a loaded machine pistol, Justice Minister Piet Hein Donner told Parliament on Thursday. Donner said the man of Moroccan ancestry has been of interest to the police since November 2004, the month filmmaker Theo van Gogh was assassinated in Amsterdam. He is suspected of being a member of the Hofstadgroep, described by the police as a terrorist organisation. The suspect was sitting in a car with two women aged 21 and 26. Both of them were also detained and are suspected of involvement in a terrorist organisation, the minister said. Apart from the machine pistol — a mini machine gun — police also found two filled ammunition clips, a silencer and a box with 14 rounds of ammunition. Donner said the arrest was a coordinated operation between the security service AIVD, the public prosecutor's office and the National Coordinator for combating terrorism.

The arrests in Amsterdam, Donner said, were connected to the detention of a 32-year-old Dutchman by police in London on Wednesday. This older man was arrested at the request of the Dutch authorities. He is wanted for questioning in relation to the investigation into the Hofstadgroep.

Several young Muslim men are in custody in the Netherlands on charges of belonging to the suspected terror group and planning attacks in the Netherlands. They were arrested last year after Van Gogh's murder in Amsterdam on 2 November. Mohammed B. who has confessed to killing Van Gogh, is due to appear in court in Amsterdam on 12 and 13 July. Prosecutors claim B. was a key member of the Hofstadgroep and that his house was used for the group's meetings.

The London suspect can to police attention in the Netherlands as part of an inquiry into human smuggling. While the Dutch authorities have declined to talk about the suspicions against him, Scotland Yard in London has revealed the man is suspected of recruiting people for terrorist activities. He is also suspected of involvement with firearms and falsification of documents.

http://www.expatica.com/source/site_article.asp?subchannel_id=1&story_id=21331&name=Terror+suspects+held+in+Amsterdam+and+London

[Petronas]

Hirsi Ali: Minister Ignores Islam Is The Problem
THE HAGUE, 29/10/05

Measures to prevent terrorism will not succeed if these do not go hand in hand with the awareness that Islam is the core of the problem, according to conservative (VVD) MP Ayaan Hirsi Ali. She lashed out at Justice Minister Donner in an interview with public broadcaster NOS on Friday. Hirsi Ali says Donner does not want to link religion to the murder of her friend Theo van Gogh for strategic reasons. "I consider this (position) fundamentally wrong", said the MP. Politicians must not be afraid to acknowledge that the core of the problem of terrorism "is puritan Islam", in her view. "If politicians run away from that, citizens will always keep the feeling: 'do they actually understand' (the problem)?"

Columnist and film director Van Gogh was killed three months after his and Hirsi Ali's short film Submission was shown on TV. Hirsi Ali, who wrote the screenplay, says there were ample indications before 2 November that could have helped prevent the murder. People were discussing violence against Van Gogh on the internet. "But the attitude was: that will not happen to us."

The Somali-born MP is currently making a sequel to Submission, which will again deal with oppression by Islam of individuals. The film is due for release in the course of 2006. The names of the director and others involved in the production will not be disclosed to protect them. After Submission II, more sequels are to be expected.

http://www.nisnews.nl/public/291005_1.htm

[Petronas]

Aljazeera launches children's channel in Amsterdam
28 October 2005

AMSTERDAM - Arabic television station Aljazeera launched a channel for children in Amsterdam on Friday. The channel will be available by satellite in the Netherlands. Programme buyer Lou Murrin told Dutch newspaper De Volkskrant that the channel will enable Arab children to identify with characters on television. "Everything revolves around identity, said Murrin. "A Lebanese boy wants to recognise himself in the kids shown on television and that just isn’t possible with American comic strip characters."

The Arabic-language channel, launched at the City cinema, will produce 40 percent of its own programmes, a ratio higher than most other children channels worldwide, according to Aljazeera.net. It also buys productions from Europe. Shaikh Hamad bin Thamer Al Thani, chairman of the board of Aljazeera Group, said: "In view of the existing state of television, where children are exposed to violent and inappropriate material on a daily basis, her highness Shaikha Mozah made a momentous decision to establish Aljazeera Children’s Channel."

http://www.expatica.com/source/site_article.asp?subchannel_id=1&story_id=24884&name=Aljazeera+launches+children%27s+channel

[Petronas]

False bomb alarm on train disrupts Amsterdam traffic
Nov. 1, 2005
AMSTERDAM, Netherlands

Two men wearing traditional Islamic clothes were arrested on a train bound from Frankfurt to Amsterdam Tuesday after a scare over a suspicious package, police said. The men were arrested after the train came to an emergency stop near Amsterdam's central station in the late afternoon, but the package was harmless, Amsterdam police spokesman Gerard Vrooland said.

Passengers had alerted police after seeing the two-Dutch speaking men pacing the car and visiting the bathroom together. "They were acting strangely, and they made people nervous by the way they behaved, coming and going to the bathroom together and carrying a large backpack," Vrooland said. Television images showed the young men being escorted from the train with their faces obscured by masks placed by police to protect their identity. They were released after interrogation, Vrooland said.

Eastbound train traffic from Amsterdam was halted most of Tuesday afternoon while bomb squads investigated the backpack. Passengers were evacuated from the train. The incident came on the eve of first anniversary of the murder of filmmaker Theo van Gogh by an Islamic radical, which a court ruled was an act of terrorism.

http://www.tkb.org/NewsStory.jsp?storyID=92762

[Petronas]

Shot fired at window of Rita Verdonk's ministerial office
4 November 2005

AMSTERDAM — A shot was fired recently at the window of the office used by Immigration and Integration Minister Rita Verdonk. She was not there at the time. Weapons experts attached to the Defence Ministry think the shot was fired at the office in the Justice Ministry complex in The Hague from a nearby building, RTL Nieuws reported on Thursday evening. Sources in the Hague confirmed the story.

It is not clear when the shot was fired and when the incident was first detected. The window of her office was said to be damaged. RTL claimed that as a result of the shooting incident, Verdonk wore a bullet-proof vest when she attended a commemoration for filmmaker Theo van Gogh on Wednesday. Muslim extremist Mohammed B. was jailed for life in July for murdering Van Gogh in Amsterdam on 2 November 2004.

A government spokesperson refused to discuss the RTL report. He referred to a press statement on Thursday that stated the police were investigating damage to the window of Verdonk's office. The police were trying to establish, the statement said, if the damage was caused by a projectile. If this is the case, the police want to know what kind of projectile was involved.

Verdonk has had personal security for some time as a result of threats made against her. A man, 19, was arrested in September after he spat at her when she was out shopping with her family in Amsterdam. Last year, two women threw ketchup at Verdonk to protest against her harsh immigration policies. Her "attackers" received jail sentences of up to 10 days.

http://www.expatica.com/source/site_article.asp?subchannel_id=1&story_id=25050&name=Shot+fired+at+window+of+Rita+Verdonk%27s+mini sterial+office

[Petronas]

Dutch police foil attack on El Al plane
Updated Nov. 5, 2005 20:09

A Dutch terrorism suspect arrested in October allegedly hoped to shoot down an El-Al airliner at Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport, a Netherlands television program reported Friday, citing police and secret service documents. Samir Azzouz, 19, was one of seven suspects arrested in four Dutch cities on Oct. 14 on suspicion of plotting a terrorist attack. Azzouz, the son of Moroccan immigrants, was acquitted in April of accusations he had planned to attack a Dutch nuclear reactor.

His lawyer, Victor Koppe, has said he is also not guilty of the latest allegations reported by the television program Nova. Prosecution spokesmen could not immediately be contacted Friday to confirm the authenticity of the Nova report. Nova said it had seen a police dossier of evidence against Azzouz, including reports from intelligence agencies and a video Azzouz allegedly recorded for his family and friends before an attack in which he expected to die.

According to the Netherlands intelligence service, the suspect enlisted the cooperation of two employees at an office near Schipool in order to perform reconnaissance. They also acquired weapons. Reports revealed that Azuz, apparently expecting to die while bringing down the airplane, had prepared a videotape saying goodbye to his parents. The Dutch National prosecutor's office earlier had confirmed the existence of a video testament, and said Azzouz's group was trying to buy weapons and explosives.

On its Web site, Nova posted what it said was a full transcript of the alleged video testament and other evidence. The program cited Amsterdam's municipal intelligence agency as saying in a message sent to police on Aug. 2 that Azzouz and his alleged co-conspirators "want to shoot an El-Al airplane out of the air." The same agency sent another message to police on Aug. 8 saying the group had recruited two employees at a Federal Express office near the airport to help with reconnaissance, Nova said.

In the video transcription on Nova's Web site, Azzouz was quoted as calling the Netherlands' government "crusaders who supported Bush." He also threatened "the Dutch people," Nova said. "You saw the images from the prisons of Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib, what they do there. You will be held responsible for this," he was quoted as saying. "We will, by Allah, take revenge ... you are considered soldiers because you elected this government ... We will spill your blood here as you helped steal the riches of the Muslims in Israel."

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1131043726486&pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull

[Petronas]

Hirsi Ali files complaint against imam
16 November 2005

AMSTERDAM — Somali-born Liberal MP Ayaan Hirsi Ali has complained to police that she has been threatened by the imam of a mosque in The Hague. A spokesperson for the Liberal (VVD) party said the complaint relates to Imam Sheich Fawaz of 'As Soennah' mosque in The Hague.

Fawaz indicated on the internet that Hirsi Ali would be "blown away by the wind of the changing times" and that "the cursing by Allah" awaited her. Fawaz caused a stir in 2002 when news programme NOVA broadcast parts of a sermon he gave that had been secretly recorded. In his sermon, the imam called for the destruction of the enemies of Islam.

http://www.expatica.com/source/site_article.asp?subchannel_id=1&story_id=25368&name=Hirsi+Ali+files+complaint+against+imam

[Vancouver]

Hirsi Ali was involved in the production of "Submission", whose director was assassinated.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/03/11/60minutes/main679609.shtml

[Petronas]

Hirsi Ali is a very brave and remarkable woman. Born in Somalia, she rose from cleaning woman to Dutch MP. She is under around the clock police protection.

[Petronas]

Muslim fanatics terrorise a nation
21nov05

A FILM about gay rights should hardly raise an eyebrow in The Netherlands, which for centuries has prided itself as a beacon of freedom of expression and was the first country to legalise gay marriage. But when Ayaan Hirsi Ali, a Somali refugee turned Dutch MP, started making a new film about the oppression of homosexuals under Islam, the threat to everyone taking part was deemed so great that she decided there would be no faces shown on screen and no end credits and that the entire production team would remain anonymous. Ali, a "lapsed Muslim" who revealed this week that she had finished the script, lives in a safe house under 24-hour protection.

The precaution is as wise as the courage is extraordinary: Theo van Gogh, the director of Ali's previous film, about domestic violence under Islam, was killed -- repeatedly shot and almost decapitated in broad daylight in the streets of Amsterdam by an Islamic extremist. Impaled on a knife in van Gogh's chest was a five-page note declaring holy war on The Netherlands and threatening death to other public figures deemed "enemies of Islam".

A year after his murder, The Netherlands is a country transformed. Previously, only the Queen and Prime Minister had police protection, and ministers cycled to their ministries. Now, many politicians, writers and artists are considered to be in such danger that they have permanent armed guards and are driven around in bomb-proof armoured cars. The Interior Ministry has set up a special unit assessing death threats from Islamic extremists and providing protection squads. "In a democracy, strong opinion-leaders must be able to say what they want to say. Therefore, the Government will take the responsibility to protect them," a spokesman from the ministry said, refusing to divulge the number of people receiving protection.

In the parliament in The Hague, inside the airport-style security, two besuited bodyguards stand erect outside the office of Geert Wilders, Ali's political rival, checking closely anyone who has permission to enter. "I have been deluged with death threats," said the maverick right-wing MP, who has called for the deportation of Islamic extremists.

Across town, police are investigating the shot fired at the window of Rita Verdonk, the Immigration Minister, who has become a hate figure among Muslim communities for introducing some of the strictest immigration laws in Europe, and insisting that Muslims should integrate.

Amsterdam councillor Ahmed Aboutaleb, a Dutch-Moroccan who has said that Moroccans who do not like The Netherlands should leave, is also under permanent protection. "He never gives interviews on that issue," a spokeswoman said.

Amsterdam Mayor Job Cohen has tried to build bridges with the Muslim community but, as the country's highest-profile Jew, he also needs 24-hour protection.

At Leiden University law school, professor Afshin Ellian, an Iranian refugee who has called for reform of Islam and even suggested that comedians should make jokes about it, is hustled through the electronically locked doors to his office by two bodyguards.

"In The Netherlands, terrorists want to threaten not only the public ... they also want to kill public figures, such as artists, academics and politicians," he said. "It is not special in terms of Islam -- in Iran, it is normal to kill people who criticise Islam, as in Egypt and Iraq. It is legitimised by Islamic political theology, which says it is all right to kill someone if they are an enemy of Allah. But this is happening in Europe."

Academics and authorities in The Netherlands are trying to understand why, in their country, Islamic extremism has gone down the path of assassination, while in Britain and Spain it has produced bombings. The rise in the death threats started in 2002 when Pim Fortuyn, a flamboyant, gay, right-wing maverick, called for a halt to Islamic immigration. He complained that police did not take the death threats against him seriously. He was killed not by a Muslim, but by a left-wing activist who said he did it "for the Muslims". It was the first political killing in The Netherlands for three centuries and was seen as a one-off. But the murder of van Gogh two years later convinced people that the threat of political killing had become permanent.

A study by Frank Bovenkerk of the University of Utrecht confirmed the rise in death threats across the country, and their seriousness. "They are under real threat -- they would be killed without protection," he said.
"We have a type of provocateur which is unprecedented in The Netherlands. They claim it is about freedom of speech, but it is about freedom of cursing."

Even if the would-be assassins are foiled by the intelligence services and the protection squads, the death threats are already having some success in silencing criticism. "People are very afraid of saying things now," Professor Ellian said. "There is self-censorship."

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/printpage/0,5942,17308340,00.html

[Petronas]

'Terrorist suspect' escaped during detention centre fire
23 November 2005

AMSTERDAM — An Algerian man, suspected of involvement in terrorist activities, is among the group of five inmates still at large following the fire at the Schiphol detention centre in late October, a news programme has claimed. The 30-year-old man, identified only as Mustafa A., was being monitored by the Dutch security service (AIVD) prior to his escape, 'Nova' reported on Tuesday night. The news programme based its claim on information from anonymous sources.

Eleven people, rejected asylum seekers and illegal immigrants, died in the fire at the detention centre in the early hours of 27 October. Another 11 inmates managed to escape during the confusion. Six were quickly recaptured, but the remaining five, including Mustafa A., have not been traced, 'Nova' said. Spokespersons for the Justice Ministry in The Hague and the AIVD said they could comment on the claims made by 'Nova'. Justice Minister Piet Hein Donner has refused to date to give out any information about the escapees, citing their right to privacy.

'Nova' said Mustafa A. is included in the "terrorist databank" compiled by the AIVD and he is one of the 150 people the security service is most interested in. The programme said A. has made use of numerous false identities in the past, and was earlier deported from Germany. The office of the national anti-terrorism coordinator (NCTb) has circulated details about A. internationally to aid in his re-capture. But 'Nova' said A. was in the detention centre as an illegal alien and not as a terror suspect. This was because justice officials had not found any hard evidence linking him to terrorism. A. was opposing moves to deport him to Algeria.

http://www.expatica.com/source/site_article.asp?subchannel_id=1&story_id=25578&name=%27Terrorist+suspect%27+escaped+during+Scbiph ol+fire

[Petronas]

Hague imam did no wrong, says OM
24 November 2005

AMSTERDAM – The Public Prosecutor's Office (Openbaar Ministerie) is not taking legal action against Sheikh Fawaz, an imam at the 'As Soennah' mosque in The Hague, a spokesman said on Thursday.

MP Ayaan Hirsi Ali (VVD) had reported Fawaz to the police, complaining that she had been threatened when he wrote on an internet site that Hirsi Ali would be "blown away by the wind of the changing times'' and that "the curse of Allah" awaited her. The public prosecutor in The Hague did not find anything criminally liable in these statements. Reacting on Wednesday, Hirsi Ali said that she totally disagreed the prosecutor’s decision.

Meanwhile the independent MP Geert Wilders has tabled questions to Justice Minister Piet Hein Donner about the affair, partly because Fawaz had added in an interview in the daily newspaper 'Algemeen Dagblad ' that he did indeed mean his letter as a threat.

http://www.expatica.com/source/site_article.asp?subchannel_id=1&story_id=25642&name=Hague+imam+did+no+wrong%2C+says+OM

[Petronas]

Radical Muslim belonging to Dutch terror cell to go on trial today
Monday, December 05, 2005

AMSTERDAM: Fourteen men accused of belonging to a radical Muslim terrorist group, including the convicted killer of filmmaker Theo van Gogh, go on trial today at Amsterdam’s high security court. Although the Netherlands has not been hit by a terrorist attack since the late 1970s, the murder of the outspoken critic of Islam and the subsequent arrests of members of the so-called Hofstad group have heightened fears that the country is a target for Islamic terrorists. However, prosecutors have already suffered setbacks, being forced to drop charges the group was specifically planning to kill several Dutch politicians, and losing a similar case against another accused terrorist. Prosecutor Koos Plooy has admitted that they have insufficient evidence to proceed with charges the group was planning specific attacks, but said that its “radical core” had a “common aim to strike fear in the hearts of the Dutch and disrupt the democratic structures” through attacks. The prosecution alleges that 27-year-old Mohammed Bouyeri, convicted to life in prison for murdering Van Gogh, was a leading member of the Hofstad group. Despite the fact that he already has the maximum sentence given in the Netherlands, the prosecution also wants Bouyeri to appear in the Hofstad group trial because if his alleged key role.

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2005\12\05\story_5-12-2005_pg4_7

[Ono]

Dutch Businessman Jailed in Nuke Case

By TOBY STERLING, Associated Press Writer
35 minutes ago

ALKMAAR, Netherlands - A Dutch businessman who oversaw the sale of dual-use nuclear technology to Pakistan was sentenced Friday to a year prison.

The court convicted Henk Slebos, the 62-year-old director of Slebos Research BV, of overseeing four shipments of dual-use equipment to Pakistan between 1999 and 2002. "Dual-use" items can be used for both civilian and military purposes.

Slebos' company sold the equipment to Abdul Qadeer Khan, the scientist considered the father of Pakistan's nuclear program. Khan has acknowledged spreading sensitive technology to Iran, Libya and North Korea without government authorization.

The court ruled that Slebos violated Dutch export laws by shipping banned technology to Pakistan knowing it would used as part of the country's nuclear program.

Slebos conceded his company made the shipments but denied violating the law. He said he believed Pakistan needed a nuclear capability to establish a regional balance with rival India.

"It was no different between the United States and Russia during the cold war," he told The Associated Press after the ruling. He said he felt singled out for prosecution when hundreds of companies around the world also delivered equipment to Khan's laboratories.

Slebos' shipments included a barometer, o-rings, 104 pieces of graphite and 45 pounds of triethanolamine, an industrial chemical that can be used in enriching uranium.

The court granted Slebos two weeks to consider an appeal, and he will remain free until then.

[Petronas]

Netherlands considers burqa ban
Wednesday, 21 December 2005, 17:05 GMT

The Dutch immigration minister says she will look into the legality of banning the burqa, the robes worn by some Muslim women to cover their bodies. Rita Verdonk made the pledge after a majority in parliament said it would support such a ban.

The proposal was put forward by independent politician Geert Wilders. "That women should walk the streets in a totally unrecognisable manner is an insult to everyone who believes in equal rights," he said. "This law is a comfort to moderate Muslims and will contribute to integration in the Netherlands," he added in a statement. His proposal is supported by two of the parties in the governing centre-right coalition, as well as the opposition right-wing party founded by the late Pim Fortuyn.

Mrs Verdonk did not say when she might complete her investigation. If the Netherlands does decide to ban the burqa, it will be the first European country to do so.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4549730.stm

[Petronas]

Dutch Struggle to Prevent Terror and Protect Rights
December 25, 2005

AMSTERDAM - Samir Azzouz is only 19, but for almost three years Dutch authorities have struggled without success to punish him for what they see as plotting terrorism. Police records show that he was first placed under surveillance in early 2003, when he was in high school, after he was stopped at the Ukrainian border while trying to join Islamic militants in Chechnya.

He was arrested months later in Amsterdam but released in days for lack of evidence. Arrested again in June 2004 on terrorist-related charges, he was convicted only of weapons possession. The police had found an array of materials that could be used to make bombs at his home in Amsterdam, including detonators and a yellow plastic lemon juice bottle, with bits of fertilizer inside, attached to a Christmas tree bulb. They had also discovered crude hand-drawn sketches of some of the Netherlands' most important symbols of power, including the Parliament, the Amsterdam airport, the Ministry of Defense and the Dutch nuclear reactor, as well as CD's, videos and Internet sites showing how to make explosive devices.

In October, prosecutors arrested him for a third time, with new evidence, and will put him and six others on trial. The prosecution says it is confident that its case is strong this time. But since no terrorist act was committed, it faces a tough challenge: proving that Mr. Azzouz's seeming intentions constituted crimes.

The problem resonates throughout Europe, as investigators and prosecutors grapple with how to stop what appear to be terrorist plots that are still being planned. Preventive detention in the face of a perceived threat is a useful but limited tool. The difficulty also has echoes in civil liberties disputes roiling the United States, but it is particularly acute in the Netherlands, with its tradition, extending for decades, of protecting the rights of the individual against the intrusion of the state. "People with intentions cannot be convicted if there is no link with transforming their intentions into action," the Dutch justice minister, Jan Piet Hein Donner, said in an interview. "Otherwise, I'd be convicting people for their ideas."

Dutch authorities say the learning curve has been steep in their prosecution of terrorist cases since the daylight murder of the filmmaker Theo van Gogh last year, for which Muhammad Bouyeri, a Dutch-born 27-year-old of Moroccan descent, was convicted. The government was severely criticized for not having put Mr. Bouyeri under tighter surveillance despite signs that he was dangerous. Theo Bot, the deputy director of the national intelligence service, the country's intelligence and main antiterrorism service, said on television in May that it was "gut-wrenching" to have to admit that "someone was incorrectly evaluated from the beginning."

The murder shattered the image of the Netherlands as a tolerant haven immune to terrorism by Islamic radicals and prompted the passage of a law that makes it a crime to be a member of a "terrorist" organization. The case of Mr. Azzouz has been particularly frustrating for prosecutors. In the case against him in 2004, prosecutors had records of chat-room conversations on the Internet in which Mr. Azzouz vowed to kill non-Muslims in the Netherlands and proclaimed his support for the violent overthrow of the Dutch government and its replacement with a government of Islamic law.

Besides the sketches of what appeared to be targets, the police raid of his home turned up homemade detonators, a pellet gun, a silencer, night-vision goggles, a bulletproof vest, ammunition clips, fertilizer, chemicals and handwritten lists of where to buy fertilizer. The police also found a signed, handwritten letter from Mr. Azzouz to his expected child, expressing the hope that if the child was a boy, he would pursue jihad and go to a training camp when he turned 15.

Prosecutors and much of the public were stunned in April when a panel of judges acquitted Mr. Azzouz of plotting attacks. Adding to the frustration was Mr. Azzouz's smiling, triumphant appearance before his friends and reporters on the day of his release, before he suddenly turned angry and punched a photographer.

Prosecutors appealed, but an appeals court upheld the acquittal in November. It ruled that although Mr. Azzouz had "terrorist intentions," his preparations were "in such an early stage and so clumsy and primitive that there was no concrete threat."

Now the authorities have charged Mr. Azzouz and six others with conspiring to attack the Parliament and the intelligence service headquarters and to assassinate several politicians, including leading members of Parliament. This time, the case rests largely on evidence gathered via wiretaps and telephone taps and monitoring of Mr. Azzouz's computer. Police agents also followed him so closely that he could see who was tailing him.

One secret intelligence report prepared by the Dutch intelligence service in October cited evidence that Mr. Azzouz was looking for money, explosives and weapons to commit a suicide bombing, according to the Dutch national television channel, NOVA, an account verified by Dutch authorities. Another report by the service asserted that there was "reliable information" that he had a "central role in planning and preparing" an attack on a public building.

The authorities also have a video made by Mr. Azzouz that the authorities say is similar to those often made by suicide bombers. Dressed in black and wearing a black headband, Mr. Azzouz tells his family that his was "the right path." He tells the Dutch people that they are responsible for crimes by the United States, adding that there will be "revenge," since "you are considered soldiers because you elected this government." Victor Koppe, his lawyer, said he planned to challenge the use of intelligence reports in court. He will also argue that while Mr. Azzouz's views may be extreme, they are not criminal. "Intentions," he said, "are not crimes."

The challenge of prosecuting intentions is playing out in a landmark terror case that went to trial in the Netherlands on Dec. 5, the first case under a new antiterrorism law making it a crime to belong to a terrorist organization. That case involves 13 young men, including Mr. Bouyeri and some friends of Mr. Azzouz. The intelligence service code named them the "Hofstad group." Hofstad means royal seat. And prosecutors hope to convict them on charges of conspiring to commit acts of terrorism against the Dutch state. Their case relies on electronically monitored conversations, Internet exchanges and the testimony of others.

[Mr. Azzouz testified on Dec. 21, The Associated Press reported, telling the judges: "We reject you. We reject your system. We hate you. I guess that about sums it up."]

Prosecutors say they have the strongest case against Jason Walters, a 20-year-old Dutch-American who is also being charged with attempted murder, accused of throwing a hand grenade from his apartment at a special police team that had come to arrest him and his roommate, another defendant. Mr. Walters has sworn in court he was only trying to act cool when he bragged about weapons training in Pakistan and rattled off names of politicians who should be killed. "You create a myth and you keep building on it," he said of his Internet chats monitored by Dutch intelligence. "People have a romantic idea about jihad fighters," he added. "I didn't have a job at the time. So I looked for things to make life a little more exciting."

But the cases against the others, all of whom are 20 to 28 years old, may be weaker. Ten of the defendants are being prosecuted only because they are accused of having an "association" with a terrorist group. Defense lawyers argue that a number of the suspects did nothing more than attend meetings where radical ideas were expressed. Much of the prosecution's case rests on information gathered from the Dutch intelligence service which bugged the apartment of Mr. Walters and his roommate. Defense lawyers and the Dutch media have accused the service of a cover-up because it introduced only a small part of the intercepted conversations into the trial. Robert Maanicus, Mr. Walters's lawyer, said mysterious beeps were in the tapes in evidence, which he said signaled additional gaps. "The intelligence services tell us that nothing else is relevant," Mr. Maanicus said. "That's rubbish."

Some terrorism specialists see the Hofstad members as radical misfits, braggarts and petty criminals, but not necessarily terrorist plotters. Some of the young men apparently did not know one another. "They were dangerous because they had this romantic feeling to use violence to create a new Islamic state," said Ruud Peters, a professor of Islamic law at the University of Amsterdam who has testified as an expert witness at their trial. "They were amateurs because they were not part of a well-organized group of terrorists and their skills in military things were mainly collected through the Internet."

Even before the opening of the trial in early December, prosecutors had to scale back their goals, dropping charges that the group was trying to kill several Dutch politicians because the evidence did "not clearly prove" a planned attack, the prosecution said. Now they are trying to prove that the suspects formed a conspiratorial cell that took its inspiration from Mr. Bouyeri, who is serving a life sentence for killing Mr. van Gogh. In a court appearance on Dec. 7, he insisted, as he had earlier, that he had acted alone.

When asked whether he had met in his home with the other suspects, Mr. Bouyeri replied, "It's none of your business!" He added, "I am not going to tell you who came to my house, and I am not asking you who visits you."

Meanwhile, the justice minister is struggling to push through legislation to give new powers to investigators and the police and to allow intelligence reports to be more easily used in trials. Under investigative procedures recently put in place, investigators and the police have begun to do what they call "disturbing" people to deter them from joining radical groups. It is a kind of harassment that involves following people at close range, calling them by telephone, parking police cars in front of their homes and approaching them on the street to inform them that they are being watched.

But civil liberties can still trump security in the Netherlands. Early in December, a young Muslim mother of three from Amsterdam identified only as Jolanda W. won a ruling against police officers she had accused of stalking her. "One cannot rule out that these measures put important psychological pressure upon the person harassed," Judge A. J. Beukenhorst said in his ruling. "Islamic belief," he added, "cannot by itself be the reason for harassment."

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/25/international/europe/25dutch.html?pagewanted=print

[Petronas]

Police and Army form joint anti-terror squad
2 January 2006

AMSTERDAM — The police and the army in the Netherlands have established a new unit to deal with incidents involving terrorists or organised crime, the head of the national police service (KLPD) announced on Monday. "For the first time police duties have been combined with defence activities," KLPD boss Peter van Zunderd told a meeting to mark the New Year. "This is an important development within our organisation to better tackle major organised crime gangs and terrorism," he said.

The new squad has been named Dienst Speciale Interventies (DSI) - Special Intervention Service. It will be ready to be deployed at short notice to deal with incidents that involve serious violence or the threat of serious violence. Apart from the KLPD, regional police services, the Military Police (Koninklijke Marechaussee) and the Marine Corp (Korps Mariniers) will also provide personnel for the DSI.

The new unit, which replaces the emergency response unit (Bijzondere Bijstandseenheid Snelle Interventie), will have its own sharpshooters and a range of operational experts. "Combining these various units in one service will lead to faster and greater preparedness," Van Zunderd said.

http://www.expatica.com/source/site_article.asp?subchannel_id=1&story_id=26470&name=Police+and+Army+

[Petronas]

Netherlands (Country threat level - 3): A small explosive device detonated on a street in the Rotterdam suburb of Ridderkerk at approximately 0200 local time (0100 UTC) on 26 January 2006. The blast severely injured one person, but there were no reports of damage or other casualties. Conflicting reports indicate that the individual injured in the incident was either carrying the device or was wounded after picking it up from the street. No further details are currently available.

AIR SECURITY International - HOT SPOTS 1/26/2006

[Petronas]

TERRORISM: DUTCH COURT JAILS NINE
Mar-11-2006 06:11 am

A court in The Hague has handed down prison sentences of up to fifteen years to nine members of the so-called Hofstad group, which aimed to threaten people, including Dutch politicians, with terror attacks. Dutch-Moroccan Mohammed Bouyeri was found guilty of leading the organisation, but did not receive an additional jail term because he is already serving a life-sentence for the brutal murder of Dutch filmmaker Theo van Gogh and under Dutch law cannot be given a further prison sentence. The trial has been treated as a test of the Netherlands' tough new anti-terror legislation.

Two men in the Hofstad group - a nickname for The Hague - Jason Walters, 21, the son of a US citizen, and Ismail Akhnikh, 23, were jailed for 15 and 13 years respectively for membership of a terrorist organisation and attempted murder. The two men threw hand grenades at police who came to arrest them. Another 23-year-old, Nouriddin El Fatmi was sentenced to five years in prison for illegal possession of firearms and membership of a terrorist organisation.

Bouyeri, who shot and stabbed van Gogh to death in an Amsterdam street in November 2004 "was the initiator and the leader of the group of men he gathered around him, " and "had a seemingly insatiable drive to find acceptance for his violent ideas with others," presiding judge Allard de Boer was quoting as saying. Van Gogh had made a short film 'Submission' heavily critical of the treatment of women under Islam, which was shown on Dutch television serveral months before his murder.

Five other members of the Hofstad group received sentences of up to two years for belonging to a terrorist organisation. The court said the nine men were members of a terrorist organisation, but found that the Hofstad group did not aim to carry out terrorist attacks. Rather it was set up to threaten people with such attacks and also to incite hatred against non-Muslims.

Prosecutors had called for the Hofstad group members to be imprisoned for up to 20 years, accusing them of inciting hatred of non-Muslims.

http://www.adnki.com/index_2Level_English.php?cat=Politics&loid=8.0.274441310&par=0

[Petronas]

World's press slams Dutch over Hirsi Ali
24 May 2006

AMSTERDAM — The saga surrounding Ayaan Hirsi Ali continues to make international headlines despite efforts by Dutch ambassadors to improve the image of the Netherlands. The International Herald Tribune (IHT) and France's 'Le Figaro' carried front page stories about the case on Wednesday, more than a week after Hirsi Ali, a native of Somalia, announced she is leaving the Netherlands and moving to the US.

Under the headline 'Fight over lawmaker divides the Dutch' in the IHT, journalist Marlise Simons of the New York Times wrote, "Once friends, Ayaan Hirsi Ali and Rita Verdonk are now caught in an ugly conflict triggered by the fight for their ideas." The IHT is owned by and supplied with articles by the New York Times.

The article said Hirsi Ali "has been a lightning rod in a country that is moving to the right as it struggles with how to deal with immigrants, most of them Muslim. After two high-profile assassinations, people are deeply divided over whether to be cautious or blunt toward Muslims who settle in the Netherlands but do not adapt to the country's social mores".

Simons also noted that half the Dutch people questioned in opinion poll agreed with Immigration Minister Rita Verdonk for casting doubt on whether Hirsi Ali's naturalisation as a Dutch citizen was valid. The international media has largely accepted this as the reason Hirsi Ali announced last week that she is leaving the country to work for a neo-conservative think tank in America.

Dutch ambassadors have been writing letters to the media since then to highlight the fact that she had decided to leave the Netherlands before the naturalisation issue arose. This is putting another spin on the story.

Hirsi Ali told a press conference that there were three main reasons for moving to the US. In the first instance, she wants a bigger stage from which to present her views. Verdonk's letter about her naturalisation and a court order forcing her of her rented apartment in The Hague caused her to accelerate the move. Neighbours worried about their own safety convinced a judge that the government should not have moved Hirsi Ali into the apartment without consulting them.

Her decision has been a publicity nightmare for the Netherlands as news reports and columnists suggest that Hirsi Ali is being denied freedom of speech in the Netherlands. "I don't care for the image that tolerance and freedom of speech are being oppressed in the Netherlands. There is every reason to remove this incorrect impression," Balkenende said recently. Following confirmation by Foreign Minister Ben Bot that the affair had damaged the country’s image, Balkenende ordered Dutch ambassadors around the world to mount a charm offensive, but it doesn't seem to be working.

Conservative French newspaper 'Le Figaro' focused on Wednesday on the 'Iron Lady' Rita Verdonk. While the Minister declined to talk to the paper about her role in the Hirsi Ali affair, she was certain of one thing about herself: she will survive the political storm.

The Wall Street Journal publicised a comment piece entitled 'Dutch Disease' and Germany's 'Die Welt' carried the headline: Dutch break Islamic critic's spirit'. International politicians have also weighed in. Daniël Cohn-Bendit, leader of the Greens in the European Parliament, described the case as "scandalous". He said the image of Dutch tolerance had been totally changed and he asked Verdonk of kicking Hirsi Ali when she was down. The Flemish Liberal Party (VLD) of Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt has even suggested giving Hirsi Ali a Belgian passport should she lose her Dutch one.

http://www.expatica.com/source/site_article.asp?subchannel_id=1&story_id=30268&name=World%27s+press+slams+Dutch+over+Hirsi+Ali

[Petronas]

But what of the Dutch constitution? What of the rights of the non-Muslim one third minority?

Minister Welcomes Sharia In Netherlands If Majority Wants It
13/09/06

Justice Minister Piet Hein Donner considers the Netherlands should give Muslims more freedoms to behave according to their traditions. Muslims refusing to shake hands is fine with him. And Sharia law could be introduced in the Netherlands democratically, in the minister's view.

Muslims have the right to experience their religion in ways that diverge from Dutch social codes, accordign to the Christian democrat (CDA) minister. He thinks Queen Beatrix was very wise not to insist on a Muslim leader shaking hands with her when she visited his mosque in The Hague earlier this year.

Integration Minister Verdonk did previously scold an imam who would not shake her hand. Without directly referring to this incident, Donner considers "a tone that I do not like has crept into the political debate. A tone of: 'Thou shalt assimilate. Thou shalt adopt our values in public. Be reasonable, do it our way'. That is not my approach".

Donner strongly disagrees with a recent plea by CDA parliamentary leader Maxime Verhagen for a ban on parties seeking to launch Sharia (Islamic law) in the Netherlands. "For me it is clear: if two-thirds of the Dutch population should want to introduce the Sharia tomorrow, then the possibility should exist," according to Donner. "It would be a disgrace to say: 'That is not allowed!'."

Donner makes his remarks in an interview in a book entitled, 'The country of hate and anger' (Het land van haat en nijd). The book was written by journalists Margalith Kleijwegt and Max van Weezel of weekly magazine Vrij Nederland. Minister Verdonk will be presented with the first copy today.

http://www.nisnews.nl/public/130906_2.htm

[NYer]

Can you say, "Dhimmitude?" I knew you could.

http://www.mobiusbandwidth.com/images2/mr-rogers.jpg

[Petronas]

Turkish youths turning to radical Islam: terror report
16 October 2006

AMSTERDAM — The continued radicalisation of especially young Muslims remains concerning, the national anti-terrorism co-ordination office NCTb said on Monday. The NCTb also said it was "remarkable" that a rising number of Turkish youths were finding their way into networks of radical Muslims prepared to use violence against western society.

Earlier, Dutch Turkish youths were appearing occasionally in "jihad networks" made up primarily of North Africans, but there now appears to be whole groups of youths susceptible to radical Islam. "Frustration over the position of Muslims in the Netherlands and anger over the events in conflict regions give food to the feeling that 'something' must be done," the NCTb said in its quarterly report on the terrorism threat in the Netherlands. Justice Minister Ernst Hirsch Ballin and Interior Minister Johan Remkes sent a summary of the report to the Dutch Parliament on Monday.

The NCTb report said the chance of a terrorist attack in the Netherlands is and remains reasonable, despite the fact that the threat appears to have declined in recent months. There were no concrete threats issued by terror networks, very few radical Muslims were entering Europe from Iraq and there was little interest in the Netherlands from international terrorist networks. The NCTb also said that resistance put forward by the Muslim community against radicalisation was still increasing. However, there is still a considerable, unpredictable threat against other European nations, transatlantic allies and the West in general.

The NCTb said it remains concerned by polarisation in the community, stressing that this was not only due to the heightening influence of radical Muslims. It said the extreme-right was also involved and that various incidents or inter-ethnic violence had been reported of late. Half of the violence involved Lonsdale youths, skinheads and the National Alliance.

http://www.expatica.com/actual/article.asp?subchannel_id=1&story_id=33724

[Petronas]

Did imam's sermon incite Van Gogh murder?
31-10-2006

Mohammed Bouyeri, the man who murdered Dutch filmmaker Theo van Gogh almost exactly two years ago is serving a life prison sentence, but now questions are being asked about whether the sermon of a Muslim cleric played a role in the crime.

During the ongoing trial of another Dutch terrorism suspect, Samir Azzouz, it's emerged that Imam Fawaz of the as-Sunnah mosque in The Hague gave a sermon condemning Theo van Gogh just a few weeks before his murder. A recording of the sermon exists and in it the imam is heard uttering a curse against the Dutch director for his film Submission, which is critical of Islam. The film had been shown on television shortly before the sermon.

In the recording of the sermon, Imam Fawaz calls Theo van Gogh a 'criminal bastard' and beseeches Allah to visit an incurable disease upon the filmmaker. He also condemns former Dutch MP Ayaan Hirsi Ali who was involved in writing the script for Submission. The imam asks Allah to make Ms Hirsi Ali go blind and give her cancer of the tongue and brain.

Despite the claims in the recording, Ruud Peters, a professor of Islamic Law doesn't believe the imam's words are incitement to commit murder:

"I have a couple of arguments for that - the most important is that he [Imam Fawaz] says, 'the people who have insulted the Prophet Muhammad should die through the hands of God' - he was very specific in that… he says, 'leave it to God'."

Professor Peters was a key expert witness at the trial of Mohammed Bouyeri and was asked to study Bouyeri's writing up until he carried out the murder of Theo van Gogh on 2 November 2004 in Amsterdam.

"I found no clue that [Imam] Fawaz had had any impact on him. On the contrary, we know that already more than a year before he killed Van Gogh, that he… deliberately turned away from the mosques, the […] mosques which are considered to be radical."

However, another writer and academic on Islam from Utrecht University, Hans Jansen, believes the sermon went much further than the usual rhetoric heard in Dutch mosques,

"It is simply incitement to violence. I can't judge the legal angles, but somebody who hears this sermon would get very excited and would want to do anything in the cause of Islam."

"I've heard fire and brimstone sermons before, one long speech which builds up tension and when you leave the mosque after having heard such a sermon, especially when you're young, you'll be very excited, almost ready to do anything."

"This sermon is much worse than anything in mosques, certainly worse than anything presented in mosques in the Middle East."

The recording of the sermon could now also be used as evidence that terrorism suspect Samir Azzouz and his associates were radicalised by going to the mosques and listening to Imam Fawaz. Mr Azzouz is accused of planning attacks on public figures and buildings in the Netherlands. His trial continues.

http://www.radionetherlands.nl/currentaffairs/ima061031mc

[Petronas]

Court Reverses Deportation Of Radical Imam
AMSTERDAM, 03/11/06

Aliens Affairs Minister Rita Verdonk unlawfully deported a radical Imam from the Netherlands. The district court in Amsterdam ruled yesterday that there was insufficient evidence that he was undermining state security.

The Imam, Eisha Bersham of the Al Fourqaan mosque in Eindhoven, posed a danger to national security, according to the AIVD secret service. Based on the AIVD's conclusion, Verdonk declared the Imam an undesirable alien on 15 June 2005. This meant she did not renew his residence permit.

The Amsterdam district court yesterday quashed the ministerial decision. The AIVD and the minister may have correctly concluded that the Al Fourqaan mosque was a feeding-ground for Jihad recruitment and that the Imam did too little against this. But deportation was still unlawful.

The AIVD's conclusions are not so unequivocal that it can be said that the Imam was personally and actively involved in the radicalisation of a group of mosque visitors, explained the judge. The Imam could therefore not be called a danger to national security in 2005, ran the verdict.

After being declared an undesirable, the Imam left the Netherlands in December 2005. Bersham, born in Sudan and holder of a Bosnian passport, is likely currently in Sudan. According to the court, he must be allowed to apply for a residence permit again.

The Al Fourqaan achieved notoriety earlier when two young Moroccan youths from Eindhoven were shot dead by border troops in the Indian state of Kashmir. They were said to have been recruited for al-Qaeda in the Al Fourkaan mosque.

In February 2005, Verdonk had already withdrawn the residence permits of two other Imams at the Fourqaan mosque for knowingly contributing to the radicalisation of Muslims in the Netherlands. This had never before happened in the Netherlands. Yesterday's verdict may also have consequences for their deportation.

Verdonk announced immediately she will appeal against the verdict. The ruling comes at precisely the moment that the minister is considering whether she can deport another Imam: Sheik Fawaz Jneid. He cursed filmmaker Theo van Gogh in a sermon a few weeks before he was murdered exactly two years ago yesterday. According to terrorist suspect Soumaya Sahla, the murderer, Mohammed Bouyeri, was present at the sermon.

In his prayer, Fawaz said to Allah: "Cause Van Gogh a disease which all the inhabitants of the earth are unable to cure. Cause him suffering making him long for death. Blind the sight of Ayaan Hirsi Ali, give her brains a cancer. Give her tongue a cancer." Fawaz said this week he had just wanted "to blow off steam".

Ayaan Hirsi Ali, who made a controversial film on women in Islam with Van Gogh, expects Fawaz cannot be prosecuted. The Dutch legal system is "too rational", she said yesterday in De Volkskrant. Hirsi Ali was referring to the freedom of religion, which has proved to be stronger than the ban on discrimination in various court cases in the past.

http://www.nisnews.nl/public/031106_1.htm

[Petronas]

15 years jail demanded in Piranha terror trial
6 November 2006

The public prosecutor demanded in Amsterdam Court on Monday jails terms of up to 15 years against six terrorist suspects in the so-called Piranha case. Both Samir A. and his co-accused Mohamed C. are facing 15 years in jail on allegations they were planning a terrorist attack in the Netherlands. The 20-year-old A. has previously been acquitted of terrorism charges.

The public prosecutor said on Monday five of the six suspects formed a terrorist organisation that was planning to attack the headquarters of the security service AIVD. All five suspects were also accused of illegal weapon possession. Three of them also tried to recruit Jihad fighters, it was alleged.

The prosecution demanded a 12-year sentence for Nouriddin El F. and 10 years for his ex-wife, Soumaya S. A fifth man faces eight years in prison. The sixth suspect faces 12 months for forging documents and illegal weapon possession. He has already been released.

http://www.expatica.com/actual/article.asp?subchannel_id=1&story_id=34184

[Petronas]

Holland to ban burqa as 'terror threat'
1:29am GMT 18/11/2006

Holland is to become the first country in Europe to ban the burqa after the government announced plans to introduce legislation outlawing the head-to-toe Islamic garment "within days". The ban is likely to extend to all face-covering veils

The cabinet decreed yesterday that it posed a "terrorist threat" because it prevented the wearers' face being identified. The ban is likely to extend to all face-covering veils and prevent anyone "appearing in public with covered facial features".

Rita Verdonk, the hard-line immigration minister known as "Iron Rita", has made no secret of her dislike of the garment, which she believes "aids and abets the repression of women". Calling it "a danger to the country's security" yesterday, she said it was undesirable "for reasons of public order, security and protection of citizens".

"People should be recognisable and, from the standpoint of integration, we think people should be able to communicate with one another."

Ministers concluded last week that a ban should be introduced but that it would be against constitutional law. However, Mrs Verdonk said she had found a loophole that had been given cabinet support. She said an existing ban on the wearing of integral motorcycle helmets could be extended to cover the burqa.

Muslim groups denounced the decision as a "ridiculous" overreaction. "I do not think people who have bad things in their minds would wear a burqa," said a spokesman for the CMO, the main Muslim body. He said only 30 people wore them in Holland.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/11/18/wburqa18.xml

[Petronas]

Mass emigration slows Dutch population growth
10 November 2006

In the first nine months of this year, almost 100,000 people left the Netherlands to settle elsewhere, 12,000 more than the same period last year. About half of the emigrants were Dutch natives, the national statistics office CBS said on Friday.

If the trend continues, more than 130,000 people will have left the country by the end of this year. For the third successive year, the number of emigrants substantially outnumbers immigrants, the CBS said.

The net effect means the Dutch population was reduced in the 2004-06 period by 75,000. In the preceding three years, there was a positive net migration of 75,000. Despite the dramatic reversal, the number of immigrants is also on the increase.

In the first nine months of this year, 76,000 immigrants settled in the Netherlands, an increase of 6,000 compared to last year. They primarily came from Poland, Germany and the US. The number of former Dutch emigrants returning to their country of birth is also growing.

The rising rate of emigration slowed population increase to 13,000 this year 9,000 fewer than 2005. The population is expected to grow by 20,000 this year. The population growth has not been so low since population counts were conducted for the first time in 1900.

In the first nine months of this year, 139,000 babies were born, a decrease of 3,000 compared with the same period in 2005. If this trend continues, this year's birth rate will be under 185,000, the lowest number in two decades.

http://www.expatica.com/actual/article.asp?subchannel_id=1&story_id=34306

[Petronas]

Dutch Muslims guilty of plotting terror attacks
POSTED: 8:07 a.m. EST, December 1, 2006

A court on Friday convicted four Dutch Muslims of preparing terrorist attacks against political leaders and government buildings, and sentenced them to up to eight years in prison.

The heaviest sentence was reserved for Samir Azzouz, 20, who the judges said had played a "central role" in the group and had prepared a suicide video meant to "strike terrible fear into the Dutch people." Azzouz had been arrested twice before as part of investigations into alleged terrorist activities. He was charged once but acquitted in a case that prompted the government to give more authority to police and intelligence to pursue terrorist cases.

Nouredine al Fatmi, who already is serving a five-year sentence in a separate terrorist case, was given an additional four years, along with Mohammed Chentouf, for preparing attacks.

Soumaya Sahla, al Fatmi's wife, was given a three-year sentence for assisting the group.

One other defendant was convicted of passport fraud and sentenced to three months, and a sixth defendant was acquitted of all charges.

http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/europe/12/01/dutch.terror.trial.ap/index.html?section=cnn_latest

[Alli]

The heaviest sentence was reserved for Samir Azzouz, 20, who the judges said had played a "central role" in the group and had prepared a suicide video meant to "strike terrible fear into the Dutch people." Why would anyone want to "strike terrible fear into the Dutch people"??
What have they done to offend these people?

[NYer]

Why would anyone want to "strike terrible fear into the Dutch people"??
What have they done to offend these people?

This? (http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/jurist_search.php?q=dutch%20headscarf)

[Petronas]

"strike terrible fear into the Dutch people."
Samir Azzouz
“I will cast terror into the hearts of those who disbelieve. Therefore strike off their heads”
(Qur’an 8:12)

“The caliph makes war upon Jews, Christians and Zoroastrians (provided he has first invited them to enter Islam … and if they will not, then invited them to enter the social order of Islam by paying the non-Muslim poll tax) until they become Muslim or else pay the non-Muslim poll tax”
Umdat al-Salik ("Reliance of the Traveler", the first translation of a standard Islamic legal reference in a European language to be certified by Al-Azhar University), o9.8

What Samir Azzouz said is straight from the Qur'an and traditional Islamic jurisprudence. Infidels can convert to Islam, accept dhimmi status and pay the jizya tax, or be killed. There are no other options. Terror is the means to enforce these commands. Unfortunately, a minority of Muslims, but all too many, still take literally what was written in the VII and VIII centuries when the sword of Islam conquered an empire stretching from Portugal to India.

[Petronas]

Police given body search powers in terror risk zones
21 December 2006

Police will be able to take quicker action from February 2007 if faced with a terrorist threat after the Cabinet designated on Wednesday permanent risk zones. The risk zones are the central railway stations of Utrecht, The Hague, Amsterdam and Rotterdam, the Dutch Parliament (het Binnenhof), the Borssele nuclear plant and the Hilversum Mediapark.

In these areas, police will able to body search people and inspect cars and objects without prior approval from the public prosecution office to ward off a terrorist attack. All civilian airports — such as Schiphol and Rotterdam — were also identified as risk zones on Wednesday. But military police have had permanent authority at Schiphol since 2005 to carry out searches.

In areas that represent a temporary terrorist threat, such as large public events, the public prosecution can grant police the right to carry out preventative searches. The Senate had approved of the government's plans mid-November.

http://www.expatica.com/actual/article.asp?subchannel_id=19&story_id=35237

[Petronas]

Security tighter at Amsterdam airport after threat
4:25 a.m. February 14, 2007

AMSTERDAM – Dutch authorities tightened security around Amsterdam's Schiphol airport, the fourth biggest European hub, after a threatening letter was sent to there, police said on Wednesday. 'We found a reason to take extra precautions at Schiphol airport,' said a spokeswoman for the Dutch National Terrorism Task Force. 'We now have more surveillance in and around the airport.' The spokeswoman did not provide any details on the contents of the letter, only that it contained a 'terrorism' threat. ...

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/world/20070214-0425-dutch-threat-.html

[Petronas]

Suspects in Schiphol arrests released
16 February 2007

AMSTERDAM – The public prosecution department in Haarlem reports that the three men and one woman arrested on Wednesday on suspicion of preparing a terrorist attack using explosives were released on Thursday evening. An investigation failed to turn up any concrete evidence to confirm the suspicions.

One of the four was taken into custody again however because he has been sentenced to 2.5 years in prison in Germany. The German authorities requested his extradition. The Marechaussee arrested the four on Wednesday in connection with a threat of a terrorist attack on Schiphol. Surveillance at and around the airport was stepped up for some time.

http://www.expatica.com/actual/article.asp?subchannel_id=1&story_id=36610

[Petronas]

MPs unimpressed with motion from PVV
16 February 2007

AMSTERDAM – Geert Wilders’ Freedom Party (PVV) failed in its attempt to keep Ahmed Aboutaleb and Nebahat Albayrak from serving in the new government. The party thinks the two should be blocked from being appointed state secretaries because they both hold dual nationality. The PVV was forced to scrap this proposal however under pressure from Parliament and Speaker of Parliament Gerdi Verbeet.

The matter proved to be sensitive enough for the Speaker to interrupt PVV MP Sietse Fritsma’s introduction of the motion. In the short recess that followed Fritsma decided, at Verbeet’s insistence, to withdraw his attack on the prospective state secretaries. PvdA MP and prospective state secretary of social affairs Ahmed Aboutaleb is of Moroccan descent. His party colleague Albayrak, prospective state secretary at the justice ministry, is of Turkish background.

PVV faction leader Geert Wilders accused Verbeet of engaging in “pure party politics'' and said it was a “scandal” how the situation had been handled. The Speaker said this accusation was unjustified. Verbeet said the PVV was casting doubt on the loyalty of MPs and government members with dual nationality and as Speaker she could not accept that. “I am responsible for making sure that we respect each other.” ...

http://www.expatica.com/actual/article.asp?subchannel_id=1&story_id=36615

[Petronas]

Parliament backs new anti-terror laws
21-03-2007

A majority in the Dutch parliament has just voted for controversial measures which will allow for people to be banned from certain areas, or mean they will have to report to the police at specified times. This despite the fact that they have committed no crime.

Unlike its European counterparts the United Kingdom and Spain, the Netherlands has been spared a major terrorist attack, but the murder of film director and outspoken critic of Islam Theo van Gogh by a 'Jihadi' terrorist in November 2004 also put Dutch society on edge much like British and Spanish society following the terrorist bomb outrages in those countries..

The discovery and subsequent prosecution of a radical Islamic terrorist network, the Hofstad Group, added to the feeling of angst that the Netherlands could be next on the European hit list. This, of course, all came in the wake of 11 September 2001, which had already sparked talk of how to lessen the threat of attacks here.

The latest preventive measures come against this backdrop, and Ernst Hirsch Ballin - the Dutch Justice Minister - explains how they are meant to work:
"The freedom to move to places where they can be a danger to public security and to people or specific persons can be limited. This not something like administrative detention - that is not included in our legislation - but we are confident that it will support the fight against terrorist crimes in an appropriate manner."

So, in simple terms the new legislation will stop people suspected by the police and intelligence services being at a certain place at a certain time, in the vicinity of a certain building or person. Suspects can also be made to report to a police station on a regular basis.

Arend Jan Boekestijn is a member of the conservative VVD party has the following to say regarding whether or not the Netherlands is under a real threat of terrorism: "Unfortunately it is. If you look at the recent reports of the AIVD, our intelligence service, they estimate that something like 100 to 200 people have thoughts that are not completely coherent with the rule of law."

A national co-ordinator to combat terrorism has been appointed and he has the job of assessing the level of threat posed to the Netherlands at a given time. If the level of threat is deemed to be high enough the Justice minister can take emergency measures.

Mr Boekestijn is, therefore, very much in favour of the new move, although he admits that there's a trade off between security and legal rights. However, he thinks there has to be more of a shift in the direction of security.

A number of high profile politicians have been threatened here in the Netherlands in the last few years and have had to receive 24-hour police protection. This is still the case for Geert Wilders, the leader of the extreme right-wing Party for Freedom. His outspoken criticism of Islam has resulted in numerous death threats, and his party wants even stronger measures to be taken when it comes to anti-terror laws. But others - the left wing parties - think the measures now in place are already a step too far.

Jan de Wit is from the biggest opposition party in parliament, the Socialist Party: "The SP believes that there isn't enough legal protection in this. Essentially, the person involved would never know the reason for the limitations on their movement being put in place. That is enough for us to be against this."

The new moves are the latest in a series of measures put in place in the last few years to help try and combat the threat of terrorism. These include greater powers to gather information for the security services, and tougher sentences for terrorist crimes.

http://www.radionetherlands.nl/currentaffairs/ned070321

[Petronas]

Ten years for terrorist trainers
6 March 2007

Instructors at a terrorist training camp must be subject to a maximum of 10 years in prison if convicted. Justice Minister Ernst Hirsch Ballin provides for this in a bill published on Tuesday that he has submitted for advice. It was already announced on Budget Day last year that participation at a terrorist training camp would become a crime. Hirsch Ballin says it must be possible to take legal actions against such training camps if they are situated abroad and the training is aimed at committing a terrorist attack in the Netherlands.

http://www.expatica.com/actual/article.asp?subchannel_id=1&story_id=37271

[Petronas]

I guess they don't think the time for action has arrived yet.

You have to talk and talk and talk
Four-year plan to combat radicalisation
27 August 2007

The Dutch government on Monday announced a four-year plan to combat radicalisation especially among Muslim youths, amid concern over domestic Islamic extremism. Most of the plan's budget of EUR 28 million will go to local governments to support projects designed to keep youths from turning against Dutch society and its values, officials said. "It is the first time that the Netherlands has launched an integral plan involving all eight relevant ministries to combat radicalisation and polarisation in our society," Interior Minister Guusje ter Horst said.

The Netherlands has been shaken by radical Muslim violence since the assassination of filmmaker and columnist Theo van Gogh in 2004 by a Muslim who was angry at a film he had made criticising the treatment of women in Islam. The killer, Mohammed Bouyeri, came from the Slotervaart district of Amsterdam where Ter Horst presented her plan.

"We are concerned with youths who do not feel at home in the Netherlands and who do not feel Dutch. While they are trying to find their own identity, they can become radical and we want to stop that," she said. "We are not only trying to fight radicalisation in Muslims but also in far-right groups."

Despite these concerns there are no official figures on the problem of radicalisation among Dutch youths, although the minister said the government was funding a study of the problem. The action plan is mainly a grouping together of earlier measures in areas such as education, child support, anti-discrimination and employment.

Ter Horst said most of the work must be done by the municipalities. The government plans have few concrete measures and speak mainly of supporting local projects. Slotervaart district council president Ahmed Marcouch was one of the first to put radicalisation of Muslim youths on the agenda and says the neighbourhood has between 50 and 60 such young people. His budget to combat radicalisation will go from EUR 100,000 to EUR 500,000 a year under the new plan.

That extra money will be spent on training teachers, social workers and parents on how to deal with youths who are coming under radical influences, he said. "It's not some form of thought control where we say what kids can and cannot think. We want to give teachers the tools to initiate the discussion and not be afraid," he explained. "We also have to make sure not every Muslim youth is seen as a potential problem," added Marchouch, who is of Moroccan origin.

Ter Horst added: "There is no pill against radicalisation. You have to talk and talk and talk to those who are going through the process. We are focussing on prevention because a crackdown doesn't always work."

http://www.expatica.com/actual/article.asp?subchannel_id=1&story_id=43283

[American_Jihad]

purple unicorn post this in R&R, helluva read.

Norway: The Country of Peace Meets the Religion of Peace
From the desk of Fjordman on Tue, 2007-09-18 11:55

Norwegian police have discovered that a large number of Pakistani taxi drivers, many of whom have already been charged with tax evasion in one of the worst cases of welfare fraud in the nation's history, have close contact with Pakistani gangs and operate as couriers of arms and drugs. In the city of Oslo it is documented that criminal Pakistani gangs also have close ties to Jihadist groups at home and abroad. This despite the fact that Norway, a nation of peace and home to the Nobel Peace Prize, should presumably get along just fine with Islam, which is, as we all know, a religion of peace.

Minister Bjarne Håkon Hanssen from the Labour Party has called for increased immigration from Pakistan because this would be good for the economy. The majority of Muslims voted for the Labour Party in the 2005 elections, which the left-wing coalition won by a very slim margin. Eighty-three percent of Muslims voted for Leftist parties, just as all over Western Europe. Kristin Halvorsen, the leader of the Socialist Left Party, began her election campaign in 2005 in the Pakistani countryside, praising all the "blood, sweat and tears Pakistanis in Norway have spent on building the country." She is now Norway's Minister of Finance.

In 2007, Minister of Justice Knut Storberget said that the Norwegian Constitution Day, May 17th, is for "everybody," and that it's appropriate to demonstrate this by displaying a multitude of flags and cultures. It is now permitted to celebrate it by waving the flag of the United Nations. The editor of a Multicultural newspaper has suggested that the Norwegian national anthem should be translated to Urdu because this would be good for integration. Norwegians are supposed to celebrate their independence by singing their national anthem in Urdu, by wearing the national costume of Ghana and by waving the flag of the UN, an organization that is actively trying to curtail their freedoms and subvert their independence. This would be the equivalent of Americans celebrating the Fourth of July by waving the UN flag and by singing the Star-Spangled Banner in Arabic.

Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Støre from the Labour Party participated in a conference with participants from dozens of countries and media outlets on how to "report diversity" in a non-offensive manner, with Arab News from Saudi Arabia as a moderator. The Cartoon Jihad the year before had prompted Indonesia and Norway to join forces and promote a Global Inter-Media Dialogue. In June 2007 this was held in Oslo.

The UN Special Envoy for monitoring of racism and xenophobia, Doudou Diène, started the conference by asking the press to actively help to create a Multicultural society. He expressed concern that democratic processes can lead to immigration-limiting political parties coming to power. He claimed that it marked a dangerous trend that still more intellectuals and academicians in the western world thinks that some cultures or religions are better than others, and stated that "The media must transform diversity, which is a fact of life, into pluralism, which is a set of values." Getting diversity accepted is the role of the education system, and acceptance is the role of the law, Doudou Diène said. "Promoting and defending diversity is the task of the media." Societies must recognize, accept and then defend and promote diversity, which always seems to mean sharia. Mr. Diène represents Senegal, a predominantly Muslim country which is a member of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), the largest voting bloc at the United Nations.

According to journalist Ole Jørgen Anfindsen, this conference is yet another sign that Europe is moving in the direction of totalitarianism. Anfindsen thinks "there are already clear signs that large portions of mainstream media in Norway have been working according to UN instructions" long before his conference. In Britain, leading figures of the BBC have proudly announced that they actively promote Multiculturalism. They don't even need the UN to tell them that. Bruce Bawer, author of the book While Europe Slept, devotes much space to the bias of European media, and justifiably so. Norwegian PM from the Labor Party Jens Stoltenberg has stated that journalistic diversity is too important to be left up to the marketplace.

One Muslim in Norway stated that: "I worked in a Pakistani shop, but all of the work there is 'unofficial.' Neither the boss nor I pay taxes to Norwegian authorities. In addition to this, I receive 100% disability benefits and welfare. I have to be cunning to make as much money as possible, since this is my only objective with being in Norway." Undoubtedly, many Muslims view welfare money from the infidels as Jizya, the poll-tax non-Muslims according to the Koran are supposed to pay to Muslims as tribute and a sign of their inferior status and submission to Islamic rule. According to Statistics Norway, immigrants generally have a three times higher unemployment rate than native Norwegians. It should be noted that non-Muslim Asians are much more successful, which means that the unemployment rate among Muslims is even higher than 300 % that of the natives. The number of Muslims in Norway has quadrupled over the past 15 years. The number of immigrants in Oslo increased by 40 percent in just five years, from 2002 to 2007. With current trends remaining unchanged, native Norwegians will be a minority in their own country within a few decades.

The number of rapes in the Norwegian capital is six times as high per capita as in New York City, and it is well documented that certain immigrant groups are grossly overrepresented on the statistics. Two out of three charged with rape in Norway's capital are immigrants with a non-western background according to a police study. Unni Wikan, a professor of social anthropology at the University of Oslo, has said that "Norwegian women must take their share of responsibility for these rapes" because Muslim men found their manner of dress provocative. The professor's conclusion was not that Muslim men living in the West needed to adjust to Western norms, but the exact opposite: "Norwegian women must realize that we live in a Multicultural society and adapt themselves to it." The number of rapes has continued to rise year by year, as it has in neighboring Sweden, but according to Trond Giske, Minister of Culture and Church Affairs from the Labour Party, 2008 will be an official Diversity Year (which it also will be throughout the EU), dedicated to celebrating Multiculturalism and "cultural diversity" in all sectors of society, so hopefully this will change.

Thomas Hylland Eriksen, professor of social anthropology at the University of Oslo, heads a multi-million project sponsored by the Norwegian state trying to envision how the new Multicultural society will work. He lives, according to himself, in a boring, monocultural part of the city, insulated from the effects of cultural diversity. Zorica Mitic, a Serbian doctor from the former Yugoslavia where a Multicultural society recently collapsed in a horrific civil war, warned against the effects of unchecked mass immigration. Mr. Eriksen, a career Multiculturalist and intellectual celebrity in his country, responded by chastising her for her "lack of visions."

A shoot-out between two Pakistani gangs one crowded Sunday evening at Oslo's popular waterfront complex Aker Brygge left two men wounded. Newspaper VG reported that a policeman had to run for his life from an angry crowd of Pakistanis. The plainclothes policeman was hit in the face and told to leave the Furuset shopping center. He was told that it was none of his business being in this area, and that a gang of young men had basically defined Furuset as their turf and didn't accept "intruders." Norwegian authorities have thus already lost control over significant chunks of their own capital city. Peaceful rallies denouncing Islamic terrorism or supporting Israel have repeatedly been physically attacked by groups of Muslim immigrants. Bruce Bawer, author of the book While Europe Slept: How Radical Islam is Destroying the West from Within, describes how there are now more direct flights from Norway to Pakistan than from Norway to the USA.

Thorbjørn Jagland is a former Prime Minister of Norway from the Labour Party, currently President of the Storting, the Norwegian Parliament. In April 2006, Jagland wrote an essay warning against the dangers of Islamophobia. According to him, paraphrasing the Communist Manifesto, a specter is haunting Europe – the spectre of Islamophobia. He fears that this could give rise to a new form of Fascism. Curiously, at almost the same time as Mr. Jagland warned against rising "Islamophobia," an article in Aftenposten newspaper warned that "youths" are in the process of destroying Norway's capital city, Oslo. Young girls are raped, schoolchildren are threatened with death, robbed and assaulted. The police warned against "an alarming rise in street violence" in urban areas across the country.

The response of the authorities has been to increase crackdowns on "racism" by the natives. In 2005 the Norwegian parliament – with the support of 85% of MPs – passed a new Discrimination Act, prepared by then Minister of Integration from the Conservative Party, Erna Solberg, who had earlier called for the establishment of a sharia council in Norway. A spokesman for the right-wing Progress Party, Per Sandberg, feared that the law would jeopardize the rights of law-abiding citizens. Reverse burden of proof is combined with liability to pay compensation, which means that innocent persons risk having to pay huge sums for things they didn't do. If a Muslim immigrant claims that a native has somehow discriminated against him or made a discriminatory remark, the native non-Muslim has to mount proof of his own innocence. I have later discovered that similar laws have been passed across much of Western Europe, encouraged by the EU.

There was absolutely no public debate about this law, which was passed in relative silence before the national elections that year. I was the first one to criticize it at my blog. The only journalist to criticize it was an American ex-pat, Bruce Bawer, and Hans Rustad at Document.no, the country's largest independent weblog. Not a single Norwegian journalist criticized the proposed law, and most barely mentioned it at all before it was passed.

The Equality and Anti-discrimination Ombud Beate Gangås, a white, lesbian feminist, before the municipal elections in 2007 warned all political parties against making "discriminatory" remarks about immigration policies, but also called for actively reducing the number of white, heterosexual men in politics. There was little real debate about immigration in the heavily left-leaning media that year, but an all the more passionate with hunt looking for racists, and by that I mean whites only. The left-wing coalition government, after a meeting with immigrant organizations, announced that racists, apparently meaning white natives only, should be "smoked out" of all public sector jobs.

Following the release of a UN population report which indicated a global population increase of several billion people over the coming decades, Marie Simonsen, the political editor of Norwegian left-wing newspaper Dagbladet, wrote that it should be considered a universal human right for people everywhere to migrate wherever they want to. This would mean virtually certain annihilation for a tiny, wealthy and naive Scandinavian nation. Ms. Simonsen thus endorsed the gradual enslavement and eventual eradication of her own people, no doubt congratulating herself for her own tolerance. Not a single word of protest was voiced by any other journalist to this statement. Human rights was a concept originally intended to ensure liberty. Now it's used to eradicate an entire people, or a large number of peoples across Europe, in the name of tolerance and diversity, and the natives are specifically banned from protesting against this.

http://www.brusselsjournal.com/node/2475

[Petronas]

Violence flares again in Amsterdam
October 21, 2007 - 9:33AM

Disturbances broke out for a sixth successive night in an immigrant quarter of Amsterdam when four cars were set on fire, police said. The unrest started after police shot dead a man of Moroccan origin last weekend who had stabbed and injured two officers.

The fires brought the total number of burnt cars to 11, a police spokesman said. The 22-year-old Moroccan had been undergoing treatment for psychiatric problems and had in the past been questioned over contacts with Islamic militants linked to the murderer of Dutch filmmaker Theo van Gogh.

The Netherlands is home to about one million Muslims out of a population of 16 million. Most live in the big cities.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/World/Violence-flares-again-in-Amsterdam/2007/10/21/1192301122132.html

[Petronas]

Six arrested for Amsterdam unrest
22 October 2007

Police have arrested six alleged arsonists in an Amsterdam suburb in the wake of a week of violence following the death of a young man of Moroccan origin, a police source said Monday.

"Police have again arrested three men suspected of intending to light fires" on Sunday evening, Amsterdam police said in a statement. The young men, 16 to 27 years old, had filled up an oil drum with petrol and one was carrying an illegal firecracker when arrested, it added. Police arrested three other youths on Saturday in possession of a bottle filled with petrol.

No vehicle was set ablaze overnight Sunday but some 20 cars have been set on fire over the past week around Slotervaart, a western Amsterdam suburb with a large Moroccan immigrant community.

Police arrested a number of suspects on Wednesday but all were freed due to lack of evidence.

Bilal B., a 22-year-old Dutch man of Moroccan descent suffering from psychiatric problems, was killed by police on October 14. He was shot at the police station after stabbing two agents, seriously injuring them.

The following night, a group of some 30 youths had set cars on fire and threw stones at the police station in spite of an appeal by Slotervaart's acting mayor, Ahmed Marcouch, for parents to keep their children at home. Marcouch, a former police officer and the spokesman for Amsterdam mosques, immediately called for a meeting of parents and children in the area to explain why and how Bilal B. had died. The following night, Marcouch walked the streets of Slotervaart with social workers and asked the cleric at the mosque to appeal for calm.

The neighbourhood is where Mohammed Bouyeri grew up, the young Moroccan-Dutch islamist who killed Dutch director Theo van Gogh in November 2004.

http://www.expatica.com/actual/article.asp?subchannel_id=1&story_id=45194

[Petronas]

Dutch lawmaker planning film criticizing the Quran
November 28, 2007

A Dutch conservative lawmaker said Wednesday he is making a film to highlight what he describes as "fascist" passages in the Quran, his latest high profile criticism of Islam. The interior and justice ministers said they were concerned, but believed they had no authority to prevent the lawmaker, Geert Wilders, from screening his film.

Wilders plans to depict parts of the Quran he says are used as inspiration "by bad people to do bad things." Less than 10 minutes long, the film is expected to air in late January. It will show "the intolerant and fascist character of the Quran," said Wilders, whose anti-Islam campaign helped his Freedom Party win nine seats in parliament in last year's election.

In the past, Wilders has said that half the Quran should be torn up and compared it with Adolf Hitler's book "Mein Kampf." He has claimed the Netherlands is being swamped by a "tsunami" of Islamic immigrants. Immigrants from Muslim countries number about 1 million of the country's 16 million people.

Wilders' planned broadcast is reminiscent of the film "Submission" — a fictional study of abused Muslim women with scenes of near-naked women with Quranic texts engraved on their flesh. "Submission" director Theo van Gogh was shot and had his throat slit by a Muslim extremist on an Amsterdam street in 2004. Prominent Muslim critic Ayaan Hirsi Ali, who wrote the screenplay, was threatened in a note left on Van Gogh's body. She now lives under round-the-clock protection in the United States.

Justice Ministry spokesman Wim van der Weegen said the government is "taking measures" before the broadcast of Wilders' film. He declined to elaborate. "Based on the discussion, the ministers have expressed concern," Van der Weegen said. "But at the same time (they) have said that Mr. Wilders has freedom of expression."

Wilders said he is not afraid of reprisals if his film angers Muslims. "I have lived with 24-hour protection for three years," he said. "I will make the film and see what reaction it creates." Dutch Muslim leaders did not immediately return calls seeking comment.

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/11/28/europe/EU-GEN-Netherlands-Anti-Quran-Film.php#end_main

[Petronas]

Terror plot alleged in Dutch court
Thu Jan 3, 3:43 PM ET

A court on Thursday ordered three people jailed for two weeks to investigate suspicions they were planning a terrorist attack, prosecutors said. The three were arrested Dec. 31 in Rotterdam by a special anti-terrorism unit acting on information gathered by the Dutch intelligence agency, prosecutors said.

Two were Dutch-Moroccan nationals and the third was Sudanese, said prosecution spokeswoman Pauline Schilthuizen. They were aged 31, 32 and 39. It was the first alleged terrorist plot uncovered in the Netherlands in more than two years. Dutch authorities have kept the country's terrorist threat level unchanged at "limited" for months.

A statement from the prosecutor's office said the three were "arrested on suspicion of making preparations to create a terrorist explosion" but the target was not certain. Schilthuizen declined to give further details. Ordering suspects held for two weeks is routine in cases of serious crimes. After two weeks, prosecutors must bring enough evidence before a judge to warrant holding suspects for a month more.

The Netherlands had a series of terrorism scares after an Islamic radical killed Dutch filmmaker Theo van Gogh in 2004. Van Gogh's killer, Mohammed Bouyeri, is serving a life sentence. Police broke up a gang affiliated Bouyeri known as the Hofstad group, and nine of its members were convicted on terrorism charges.

The last arrests on suspicion of preparing an attack were in October 2005. In December 2006, four Dutch Muslims were sentenced to up to eight years in prison for allegedly planning to attack politicians, including Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende, and the headquarters of the Dutch intelligence agency. After an earlier case when suspects were released for lack of admissible evidence, the Netherlands changed its laws to allow the secret intelligence service to present evidence in court.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080103/ap_on_re_eu/netherlands_terrorism

[Petronas]

International terrorist suspect arrested
Friday 14 March 2008

Police in Breda have arrested a 26-year-old Pakistani national on suspicion of involvement in an international terror network which was plotting attacks in Western Europe, the public prosecution department said on Friday.

The network, suspected of involvement in a foiled suicide attack in Barcelona, was preparing attacks in France, Portugal, Germany and England, the department said in a statement.

News agency ANP, quoting Spanish newspapers, says the attacks were planned against supporters of assassinated Pakistan politician Benazir Bhutto.

The Dutch investigation began in February following a secret service tip-off.

The man has been in the Netherlands since September 2007 and is officially registered as a student. The public prosecution department did not say what course or where he is supposed to be studying, other than that he is taking a four-year hbo college degree. It also said he spends a large amount of time as a house painter.

The man, who was not named, has been under observation since the beginning of the investigation and has been arrested as a precaution, the department said. There are no indications that he has been involved in planning an attack in the Netherlands.

He will appear in court in Rotterdam on Monday.

http://www.dutchnews.nl/news/archives/2008/03/international_terror_suspect_a.php

[Petronas]

Dutch protest against Islam film
Saturday, 22 March 2008, 19:05 GMT

At least 1,000 people have taken part in a demonstration in Amsterdam against the planned release of a film expected to be highly critical of Islam. Protesters objected to the planned internet release of the film by Dutch right-wing politician Geert Wilders.

Mr Wilders says the 15-minute film deals with Islamic ideology which he describes as "the enemy of freedom".

The planned release, expected before the end of this month, has sparked angry responses in the Muslim world. Some protesters in central Amsterdam carried signs that said "Stop the witch hunt against Muslims". "We can no longer remain silent. There is a climate of hate and fear in the Netherlands," said Rene Danen, a spokesman from anti-racism organisation Nederland Bekent Kleur (The Netherlands Shows its Colours), which organised the protest.

The Dutch government has disassociated itself from Mr Wilders' views, but there are fears the film will spark protests similar to those that followed the publication in Denmark two years ago of cartoons seen as offensive to Muslims.

The film has already been condemned by several Muslim countries, including Iran and Pakistan.

Geert Wilders plans to release his film on the internet
Mr Wilders' film is entitled Fitna, an Arabic word used to describe strife or discord, usually religious. Mr Wilders wrote a commentary in a Dutch newspaper on Saturday. "The film is not so much about Muslims as about the Koran and Islam. The Islamic ideology has as its utmost goal the destruction of what is most dear to us, our freedom," he wrote in De Volkskrant. "Fitna is the last warning for the West. The fight for freedom has only just begun," he said.

Mr Wilders says he plans to release his film on the internet before the end of the month. He has had police protection since Dutch director Theo van Gogh was killed by a radical Islamist in 2004.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7309838.stm

[Petronas]

An American network provider cancels website for Dutch movie against Koran
March 23, 2008, 4:58 PM (GMT+02:00)

Dutch MP Geert Wilder’s as yet unreleased film “Fitan” - billed as showing that “Islam and the Koran are part of a fascist ideology that wants to kill the values of western democracy” - has drawn death threats and complaints from Pakistan, Indonesia, Malaysia, Egypt, Iran and Syria. NATO chiefs fear a backlash against Dutch troops fighting in Afghanistan. It has been compared to the Muhammad cartoons in the Danish media two years ago.

After Dutch broadcasters refused to show the video, Wilders reserved a website for its release before April 1. Now the American “Network Solutions” has placed the website offline claiming the film, whose content is still under wraps, includes material in violation of the law. It also cites “technical reasons.”

The Dutch lawmaker claims his film does not violate Dutch law.

Dutch filmmaker Theo Van Gogh was murdered by an Islamic extremists in Amsterdam in 2004 for producing a short documentary exposing Islam’s treatment of women.

http://www.debka.com/headline.php?hid=5135

[NYer]

An American network provider cancels website for Dutch movie against Koran
March 23, 2008, 4:58 PM (GMT+02:00)



You think this would have happened had the film put the Southern Baptists for example in a bad light?

[Petronas]

Fitna the Movie: Geert Wilders' film about the Quran (English)

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=7d9_1206624103

[Petronas]

Taliban says killed Dutch soldiers over film
Sun Apr 20, 4:43 PM ET

The Taliban said a deadly attack on Dutch soldiers in Afghanistan was in retaliation for an anti-Islamic film made by a politician from the Netherlands, a U.S. terrorism monitoring service said on Sunday. The son of the new chief of the Dutch military and another Dutch soldier serving with NATO-led forces were killed when their vehicle hit a roadside bomb in Afghanistan on Friday.

The attack was one of "a sequence of missions taking revenge for the insulting film," the Taliban said in a message in Arabic on its website, according to the terrorism monitoring service of a U.S. author and analyst who goes by the pseudonym Laura Mansfield.

Dutch MP Geert Wilders, leader of the anti-immigration Freedom Party, launched the anti-Koran film "Fitna" -- an Arabic term that can mean strife -- on the Internet last month. The film urges Muslims to tear out "hate filled" verses from the Koran, and includes a cartoon of the Prophet Mohammad with a bomb under his turban. Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende has repeatedly said that the government rejects Wilders' views.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080420/wl_nm/afghan_dutch_dc