Dutch
Iranian saved from death penalty
The
government has succeeded in saving a Dutch terrorist of Iranian descent
from the death penalty in the Islamic Republic.
In
response to protests from the Dutch government, Iranian authorities
confirmed last week the man's death sentence had been commuted to life
imprisonment, Dutch associated press ANP reported.
A
spokesman for the Foreign Affairs Ministry said that based on the
government's opposition to capital punishment, the Netherlands always
works to save Dutch nationals from the death penalty in other countries.
Newspaper
NRC Handelsblad reported at the weekend that the man was recruited from
Leeuwarden in the north of the Netherlands to join the Iranian opposition
movement, Mujahedeen Khalq. He travelled in 1997 to Iraq, before crossing
the Iranian border.
He
was arrested on 13 April 2000 in connection with 2 failed assassination
attempts on a former Iranian minister. The then Dutch Foreign Affairs
Minister Jozias van Aartsen was informed of the arrest during a visit to
Iran in May 2000.
The
EU considers Mujahedeen Khalq to be a terrorist organisation. The movement
was known in the Netherlands as Solidarity with Iranian People (SIM), but
was forced to leave the country in 2002 under pressure from the Dutch
government.
Despite
this, the incident seemed to lend credence to growing concerns that the
Netherlands is a breeding ground of Islamic extremists. The secret service,
AIVD, has recently estimated that 100 Muslim radicals or more are active
on Dutch soil and several mosques have been accused of helping finance
terrorist organisations. Eindhoven, in particular, has been pinpointed as
a hotbed of extremists.
But
2 recent terror trials resulted in acquittals of all 16 suspects. The
arrests were carried out on tip-offs from the secret service, AIVD, but
the Rotterdam Court ruled that the evidence was insufficient. The AIVD
refused to reveal its information source, preventing full verification of
its allegations.
Furthermore,
in the 1st trial, the court also ruled that there was insufficient
evidence to convict 4 suspects on charges they were involved in an
al-Qaeda plot to bomb the US embassy in Paris.
Justice
Minister Piet Hein Donner has since lodged legislative proposals aimed at
getting tougher in the war against terrorism. In particular, the Christian
Democrat CDA minister wants confidential information from the AIVD to be
accepted as evidence in court.
The
CDA, Liberal VVD and Democrat D66 coalition Cabinet has also approved
Donner's proposal to make it a prosecutable offence to recruit volunteers
for Jihad, the Islamic holy war, a Novum news report said. The government
is also pushing legislation allowing it to ban terrorist organisations on
Dutch soil.
(source:
Expatica News)
|