Hofstad Network
The Hofstad Group ( also Hofstad network, dutch Hofstadgroep ) is an Islamist group of mostly young Dutch Muslims mostly of Moroccan descent.
The name " Hofstad " was originally the code name of the Dutch secret service AIVD for a certain group of people, which finally came into the media. The name refers to the nickname of the city of The Hague ( Hofstad, ie " Hofstadt " or " courtly city ", The Hague features as the seat of the Dutch Royal Family ), where some members live, although the AIVD denies this.
The group will connect to other networks in Spain and Belgium attributed. Among their contacts is also Abdeladim Akoudad (also known as Naoufel ), one of the suspects of the attacks in Casablanca in 2003. The group is influenced by the ideology of Takfir wa'l - Hijra at-, a Salafist flow from Egypt. Redouan al - Issar, also known as " the Syrians ," is the suspected leader of the religious group. Largest became famous for the network by the murder of Theo van Gogh by Mohammed Bouyeri, the Hofstad member, who was sentenced to life in prison for it. Samir Azzouz, who is a suspect attacks on the Dutch parliament, as well as to have planned in the Schiphol Airport and the Borssele nuclear power plant, close links with the Hofstad Group is also attributed, but he was never prosecuted for membership.
In January 2009, the Court of Appeal found in The Hague that the Hofstad network is not classified as a " terrorist organization."
History
The AIVD called the group " Hofstad Network" in the fall of 2002, for internal purposes. This name was first used by the Dutch Public Prosecutor's Office on 10 November 2004 publicly, after a police raid in the Antheunisstraat, a street in Laakkwartier ( Laak district ) in The Hague.
On October 14, 2003, Samir Azzouz, Ismail Akhnikh, Jason Walters and Redouan al - Issar arrested for planning terrorist attacks in the Netherlands, a little later, however, they were released.
Acquired shortly after the murder of Theo van Gogh by Bouyeri in November 2004, the organization attention of Dutch media, than trying the alleged members Jason Walters and Ismail Akhnikh arrest, led to a 14 -hour siege of a house in The Hague. During these events, the name " Hofstad Group" was publicly and reporting used continually that nickname. In the months after the siege were a number of suspects, where it was thought a membership arrested. On 5 December 2005, the trial of 14 suspected members began.
Legal proceedings
On 10 March 2006, the Rotterdam court met in a monitored courtroom in Amsterdam - Osdorp and brought the following judgments for members of the Hofstad group out:
- Jason Walters - 15 years imprisonment
- Ismail Akhnikh - 13 years imprisonment
- Nouredine el Fahtni - 5 years imprisonment
- Yousef Ettoumi - 1 year
- Zine Labidine Aourghe - 18 Months
- Mohammed Fahmi Boughabe - 18 Months
- Mohamed el Morabit - 2 years
- Ahmed Hamdi - 2 years
Mohammed Bouyeri was serving a life sentence and could not be additionally punished. Jermaine Walters was exonerated from the accusation of the former Dutch member of parliament Ayaan Hirsi Ali threatened.
Jermaine Walters, Nadir Adarraf, Rachid Belkacem, Mohamed El Bousklaoui and Zakaria Taybi were acquitted.
On 23 January 2008, the Hague Court of Appeal rejected the verdicts and said many of the suspects released on the grounds that no evidence for the existence of the Hofstad network were found.
- Jason Walters - 15 years imprisonment
- Ismail Akhnikh - 15 months imprisonment
- Nouredine el Fahtni - Acquittal
- Yousef Ettoumi - Acquittal
- Zine Labidine Aourghe - 18 Months
- Mohammed Fahmi Boughabe - Acquittal
- Mohamed el Morabit - Acquittal
- Ahmed Hamdi - Acquittal