The first results of an investigation into the murder of controversial Dutch filmmaker Theo van Gogh, whose suspected assailant has ties to radical Islamists, point to a ”terrorist conspiracy”, prosecutors said on Friday.
Seven people with ties to Islamic groups in The Netherlands, including the alleged murderer, are to be charged with involvement in a terrorist conspiracy over the killing of Van Gogh and with plotting to kill Dutch liberal politician Ayaan Hirsi Ali, the Amsterdam public prosecutor said.
The suspect in Van Gogh’s murder, identified in Dutch media as Mohammed B, is a 26-year-old with dual Moroccan and Dutch nationality.
Police said he was arrested shortly after he shot and stabbed Van Gogh while the filmmaker was cycling in Amsterdam on Tuesday. The suspect has so far refused to speak to investigators, prosecutor Leo de Wit said.
A letter left on the body of Van Gogh threatens Somalian-born Dutch liberal politician Ayaan Hirsi Ali because it said she has turned away from Islam, as well as Amsterdam’s mayor Job Cohen because it said he has pitted Jews against non-Jews.
After he was arrested, the police also found a farewell letter with the suspect that shows he expected to die a martyr for his faith ”baptised in blood”.
He will appear before a judge on Friday at the prison hospital near The Hague. The judge will have to rule if he can be remanded in custody for a longer period.
A 26-year-old resident of Amsterdam, Mohammed B seems to have turned to radical Islam gradually.
At Eigenwijks, a neighbourhood association where he worked as a volunteer, other volunteers told the Dutch ANP news agency that in the past months he refused to serve alcohol or come to events where men and women mixed, which effectively put an end to their contact with him.
Mohammed seems to have been in contact with the other six people held on terrorism charges, prosecutor De Wit said.
He said none of these men, arrested on Wednesday after police conducted searches in Amsterdam, are Dutch nationals. They are all of Moroccan or Algerian origin, but the police would not give more details about their nationality.
They are charged with ”participation in a criminal organisation with terrorist aims” and ”terrorist conspiracy”, de Wit said. Two other men arrested on Wednesday have been released without being charged.
De Wit said prosecutors are investigating whether the men were part of a larger network.
According to the Dutch intelligence service there are between 100 and 200 Islamic extremists active in the country who try to recruit immigrant youths for the jihad, or holy war.
Mayor Cohen of Amsterdam called on the intelligence services to work together with local authorities to fight Muslim extremists.
”As mayor I want to know what goes on in my city. I want to know who is engaged in recruiting for jihad,” he said.
The mayor stressed that he will not hesitate to close down mosques if evidence shows they are inciting hatred.
Late on Thursday, the Dutch ministers for justice and the interior announced that the Cabinet will decide on Friday if extra measures have to be taken to step up security or the monitoring of Islamic extremists.
Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenede said on Friday that he is very worried.
”There is no place in The Netherlands for people who think that they can continue with threats, with violence and trying to silence people,” he told journalists in Brussels where he is attending an European Union summit. — Sapa-AFP