Former Hofstadgroep leader Samir A. was sentenced to two and a half years in prison in the court of Rotterdam on Wednesday. The court has that on Wednesday announced. A. collected money with which he financed terrorism. The judge acquitted him of participating in the jihadist organization IS. That is why his sentence is considerably lower than the sentence demanded by the Public Prosecution Service, which demanded six years in prison against A..
With the help of an underground banker, 36-year-old A. has sent a group of — mostly Dutch — IS women 107,000 euros to escape from Syrian prison camps where foreign IS women and children are imprisoned. He planned and coordinated the escapes.
According to the court, some of them were on the national terrorism sanctions list and A. was aware of this. “So you knew that sending money to people on that list was punishable. At the very least, you took the risk that the money could end up with IS and be used for terrorism. This constitutes conditional intent,” the judge said.
Hofstad group
Samir A. had been known to the judiciary for some time. The Rotterdammer became known in 2004 as the leader of the terrorist Hofstad group, of which the murderer of Theo van Gogh, Mohammed B., was also a member. A. was sentenced to thirteen years in prison for plotting attacks. Since his release in 2013, he has been watched by the police and the AIVD, because he is said to be still radicalized.
Two years ago, A. was arrested again on suspicion of terrorist financing. He himself has always denied any blame for this: according to him it was ‘humanitarian aid’. “If you know that children are dying of hunger somewhere, you help,” he said NRC. Of the women he is said to have supported, seven have now returned to the Netherlands. Four of them have already been convicted of terrorist acts, the other three are still being prosecuted.
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