Netherlands: More terror planned

Klein Verzet reports of another terror attack planned, against Dutch politician Geert Wilders. Wilders recently said half the koran should be torn out, though the attack was planned even before he said that specifically.

The terrorists, who were described as "not fundamentalists" meant to shoot Wilders, then blow up 500-600 kilo of standard issue explosives. By comparison, terrorists in Israel usually use 5-15 kilos of non-standard explosives. It would have caused "enormous chaos".

Two people were arrested. I read somewhere that the two were ethnic Dutch and I was trying to trace this information down.

Reading the posts on the Marokko.nl forum, which is subsidized by the Dutch gov't, I ran across this post (Dutch) by a poster named Isha_2.

"The only thing I see is that the Netherlands bitches about Islam. The Dutch can only complain! But it was the foreigners who they BROUGHT to take up the dirty work. So that deformed, backward idiots like Wilder can now make demands. He deserves to be KILLED!! You may kill for your rights and your RELIGION!! I will dance in the street when this oaf is silenced!! They kicked off his throne a great man like Saddam but leave a pork-eater like Wilders still standing."

This is not an extreme forum, but this posting was not removed.

Netherlands:Four arrested in planned attack on airport

In prague the airport is also on alert.

The public prosecution department in Haarlem reports that the Marechaussee arrested four people on Wednesday in connection with a terrorist threat aimed at Schiphol. The justice department did not want to comment further on the case while the investigation continues.

Employees at Schiphol say the Marechaussee was looking for a car with a German license plate. "Effective action" was taken, said Justice Minister Ernst Hirsch Ballin in an initial reaction.

The minister was informed of the threat while he attended a debate in parliament on Wednesday morning.

The Marechaussee stepped up surveillance in and around the airport in response to a threatening letter which had been received by the National Coordinator for Anti-terrorism. The extra measures were revoked in the course of the afternoon after the arrests.

The Marechaussee checked out cars that were parked in front of departure hall 1. They also conducted preventative searches outside the terminal, in the parking lots and elsewhere.

Source: Expatica (English)

Belgium: Ties between Madrid attack and Belgium

The trial of the 29 suspects in the March 11th, 2004 attacks in Madrid shows that several of the suspects have ties with the Belgian "Cell from Masseik" of the GICM (Moroccan Islamic Combatant Group).  It wasn't hard for Belgian justice to catch that the Madrid group and several of the suspects in Brussels and Maaseik knew each other Belgian State Security followed the Belgian suspects for several months in 2004.

Barely eight days after the attacks in Madrid the Federal Police arrested several suspects, including Youssef Behadj.  Due to lack of evidence he was freed.  Belhaj was finally extradited to Spain in April 2005 after he was arrested again in Molenbeek on February of that year on request of Madrid.

The digital imprints of Mohamed Alafad, one of those who carried the bomb were found in an apartment in Schaarbeek, where also Mourad Chabarou, one of the suspects in the "Maaseik cell" ,stayed for a while.

Source: HLN (Dutch)

Germany: Beret not allowed either

This is an example of taking things too far, probably because everybody is afraid of pointing out what they are really afraid of.  Wearing a hijab is more than covering your hair.  It's a political statement saying "I'm Muslim and I want you to know it".  Many young Muslims today don't wear a hijab because of traditional reasons.  In fact, in many cases their parents are flat out against it.  But they wear it because it's an anti-establishment statement, a provocation.  None of that could be said about a beret.

A Muslim woman teacher who was ordered to stop wearing a headscarf at school has gone to a labour tribunal in Germany to assert the right to wear a beret instead.

Her lawyer said Wednesday his client, 35, was not a religious extremist, but had a cultural reluctance to show her hair. She wears the French-style felt beret pulled down so her hair does not show.

The lawyer told judges that experts should give evidence that a beret is not a religious symbol and therefore cannot be banned in a secular school under laws requiring religious neutrality.

The woman trains behaviourally disturbed children at a secondary school in the western city of Dusseldorf, where authorities imposed a ban on scarves last year.

When she changed to a beret, the principal told her to remove it. She ignored the demand and received a warning from the education authority. She asked the labour tribunal to set the warning aside.

The lawyer said a beret was a way of reconciling western culture and the woman's Turkish origins. But a state lawyer argued it was being used to dodge North Rhine Westphalia's state regulation against religious symbols in public schools .

The case was adjourned to June 1.

Source: Monsters and Critics (English)

Belgium: 13-year old married - details

A 13 year old from Schaarbeek passed herself off as her 23 year old sister in 2004 in order to get married to a Moroccan. According to the Walloon newspaper La Dernière Heure this enabled the man to regularize his illegal stay in Belgium.

The sister, who is now 26, was away for two years and discovered the deceit only when she came home last year and was addressed in a letter as "Mrs.". When she came to vote last year in the local elections she was listed as "married" in the registry. The woman went to the municipality of Scharbeek, the municipality where was supposedly married. She was listed as having married a 24 year old Abdel H. on October 13th, 2004.

According to the Brussels court, the mother of the two sisters was aware of the going ons. Her 13 year old daughter lied about losing her ID card and managed in this way to get new documents on her sister's name. She was then "officially" 23 and could marry Abdel H.

The Moroccan was not arrested but is suspected of rape. any sexual contact with a kid younger than 14 is considered rape by the courts.

The girl, being a minor, cannot be prosecuted. The correctional court can declare the marriage null on the basis of forgery. Also, the registry office can approach the court to declare the annulment.

Source: HLN (Dutch)

See also: Belgium: 13-year old married

Norway: Terror suspect suspected of planning Jew's murder

PST, the Norwegian Police Security Service, thinks that Arfan Qadeer Bhatti (29) planned to kill the known Jewish-Norwegian psychiatrist Berthold Grünfeld.

According to Dagbladet newspaper Grünfeld was supposed to have been killed off with a pistol with a silencer.  According to the newspaper Bhatti, who is the head suspect in a terror case, attempted to manipulate one of the co-suspected in the case to kill Grünfeld.

Grünfeld's observations of the 29 year old, together with the fact that Grünfeld is a known Norwegian Jew were motives for the attack.

PST's working theory is that Bhatti manipulated a 26 year old Norwegian man to commit the murder.  Bhatti and the 26-year old are both on trial, together with two other suspects, on suspicion of planning to commit terror attacks.

In 2002 an Oslo court assessed the continued detention of Bhatti and Grünfeld concluded then that Bhatti suffered from an asocial personality disorder.  

"such a person doesn't follow social and judicial norms, lies and decieves others, is impulsive and lacks ability to plan, is unstable and agrresive, irresponsible, ruthless and likely to display anger".

PST did not comment on Dagbladet's article.

Source: Aftenposten (Norwegian)

See also: Norway: Terror or crime, Norway: Terrorism

Norway: Triple murder could have been planned

Last October Shahzad Khan (30), a Pakistani-Norwegian murdered his three sisters Sobia (27), Saadia (24) and Nafisa (13) Khan in the family home in Oslo's Kalbakken district.  Besides the three sisters, three other brothers, their wives and children also lived in the house.  It is unclear from news reports, but it seems they were present in the house at the time.

Originally the police said Khan was under influence of drugs.  It was recently concluded that he was not psychotic or unaware at the moment of the crime and that he is therefore punishable by law.  Khan is currently being accused of voluntary manslaughter.  It is uncertain how this would affect the court trial since Khan maintains he does not remember any of the events of that night.

An ax was found at the murder scene and police are now trying to find out when it was purchased.  According to Oslo police lawyer Cecilie Gulnes, if it was purchased a couple of weeks prior to the crime, it would point towards a planned murder. 

Police are looking for people who might have sold Khan the ax, which sold 3000-4000 units.  Police think it was probably sold sometime after July of last year when the father of the family, his wife and their four children traveled to Pakistan.  They were still in Pakistan when the three sisters were murdered.

A pistol was also used in the murder and it is still unclear whether Khan had any help. 

Source: VG nett (Norwegian)

See also: Norway: Update on triple murder, Norway: Pakistani kills his sisters

Sweden: Demanding help with Iraqi refugees

Over half the asylum applications made in Europe by Iraqis are made in Sweden. Now the country's migration minister Tobias Billström is demanding that other EU member states take more responsibility. Writing in Svenska Dagbladet, Billström and Europe minister Cecilia Malmstöm argue that "there must be solidarity between EU member states, so that more of us share responsibility for sheltering refugees." The ministers say it is important for there to be common rules for EU countries, citing the EU's stated goal of a common asylum system by 2010. Sweden plans to investigate the possibility of using the EU's refugee fund to cover the country's increased expenses. The fund was created to aid member states' with costs associated with receiving refugees.
Source: The Local (English)

See also: Sweden and Norway: Yet more on ID scam, Sweden: Top address for Iraqi refugees, Sweden: Record for immigration, Sweden: Iraqi immigration main source of population growth

Belgium: 13-year old married

Police are investigating a marriage made in the Schaarbeek municipality, a Brussels suburb, between a youth and his 13-year old girlfriend. The young bride claimed she lost her ID (which must be carried by every Belgian above the age of 12). The gave a false birth date so she could get married, without the municipality workers asking any questions.

Source: HLN (Dutch)

Update:

The girl has reported her ID lost a while before, enabling her to get a new ID with the date of birth she had specified. Her family played along.

Schaarbeek is a Brussels suburb with a strong Turkish and Moroccan community. Though the girl's origins are not mentioned news reports do say that even if the marriage is allowed in the girl's homeland, it is still impossible in Belgium for a 13 year old to get married.

The marriage will probably be annulled once the couple is located. The witnesses will also have to account to the police for witnessing such a marriage.

Sources: nu.nl (Dutch), blik op nieuws (Dutch)

Germany: Iraqi charged with aiding terror group

Feb. 13 (Bloomberg) -- Germany's federal prosecutor has charged an Iraqi national with providing financial aid and logistical support to the Ansar al-Islam terrorist group.

The man, identified only as Burhan B., is alleged to have passed funds of as much as 22,000 euros ($28,607) to the group at least three times between Nov. 2003 and May 2004 and thereby supported the organization, the prosecutor's office said in an e-mailed statement today. The 37-year-old also breached export control rules by transferring the money, the prosecutor said.

Burhan B., who has been held in custody in Germany since June 12, 2006, was in close contact with Ata A. R., who is alleged to have been part of Ansar-al Islam's leadership in Germany, the prosecutor office said.

Ata A. R. and two other Iraqi nationals identified only as Mazen H. and Rafik Y. went on trial on June 20 last year in the southern German city of Stuttgart. They are charged with attempting to assassinate former Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi, the first leader of the Iraq Interim Governing Council following the 2003 ouster of Saddam Hussein, during a visit to Berlin in December 2004.

Two others, Dieman A. I. and Ferhad Kanabi A., alias Kawa H., went on trial separately on June 20 at the Munich Highest Regional Court charged with membership of the same group. They are accused of providing Ata A. R. with financial and logistical aid or transferring money to help finance the group.

Ansar al-Islam was formed in September 2001 in northern Iraq to fight for a religious state there, according to the prosecutor's office. The group has publicly called itself Jaish Ansar al-Sunna since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003 and directed attacks against coalition forces and foreigners in Iraq.

Source: Bloomberg (English)

See also: Germany: Terrorist trial opens