Dutch govt wants ban on glorification of terrorism

AMSTERDAM : The Dutch government said today it planned to criminalise statements supporting terrorist activities to help curb support for Islamist militants in a country concerned about the threat of attacks.

The centre-right government said it planned to introduce a bill at the end of 2005 to introduce legislation next year that could sentence anyone found guilty of the ”glorification” of terrorist attacks or denying war crimes and genocide — by word of mouth or in writing — to two years in prison.

”This punishment can be used in cases of recruitment for the jihad (holy war) as well as for cases of glorifying, belittling, glossing over or denying serious crimes,” the government said.

”Dutch society has changed quite drastically over the past years. The threat of Islamic terrorism and fear of attacks are a reality. Radicalisation, within the native as well as foreign population, is a problem that will remain,” it said.

The Netherlands earlier this year launched a terror alert system for Amsterdam airport, the port city of Rotterdam, the nation’s rail network and water supply to help combat potential terrorist threats.

Following last year’s train bomb attacks in Madrid that killed 191 people and wounded some 1,900 and London’s transport system bombings, fears have grown of similar attacks in the Netherlands, which supported the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq and sent troops there after the war.

Last year’s murder of filmmaker Theo Van Gogh, an outspoken critic of Islam, prompted tit-for-tat attacks on mosques, religious schools and churches. His self-confessed killer, an Amsterdam-born Muslim, was sentenced to life in jail this week.

Dutch prosecutors have also charged 12 other men who were arrested after the Van Gogh killing on Nov. 2, 2004, with participating in a terrorist group suspected of planning other attacks. One was later released.

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