The VVD is considering whether Soumaya Sahla, who has been convicted as a member of the terrorist Hofstad group, can remain an adviser to the party. This can be deduced from statements by VVD party leader Sophie Hermans in the television program WNL on Sunday. There she said that the matter is in her stomach.
PVV leader Geert Wilders attacked the VVD hard on Tuesday during the debate on the government statement about Sahla’s involvement with the liberal party. At the time, this mainly led to fierce protest from other parties against the way in which Wilders spoke about people who themselves were not present at the debate.
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Sahla was convicted in 2014 as a member of the Hofstad group for illegal possession of weapons and membership of a terrorist organization. In the years that her trial continued, she studied political science. She then went to work as a deradicalisation expert. For example, she became ‘table chairperson for terrorism and radicalization’ of the VVD. She is not a member of the party, but has close ties with it: VVD celebrity Frits Bolkestein has been her mentor since 2011, is on the party website.
The VVD appears to be sensitive to Wilders’ attack. Bee WNL on Sunday Hermans said that she has “an uneasy feeling” about the matter. “I’m pretty upset about it,” says Hermans. She emphasized that Sahla does not work for the VVD group and does not have a pass for the House of Representatives building. Nevertheless, Hermans believes that the VVD has the “responsibility” to think about Sahla’s involvement in the party.
submachine gun
Sahla was arrested in Amsterdam in 2005 with a submachine gun together with Noureddine el F. (with whom she was married in an Islamic way). The couple, along with two others, were suspected of preparing terrorist attacks, including on politicians.
The Hofstad group, of which they were members, was the terrorist network in The Hague in which Mohammed B., the murderer of filmmaker and columnist Theo van Gogh, was also involved. In 2014, Sahla was sentenced to three years in prison on appeal. She then no longer had to go to jail, because she had already served her pre-trial detention.
PVV leader Geert Wilders threw the VVD on Tuesday during the debate on the government statement that the party is being advised by a “terrorist”. He recalled that he himself had been on the list of politicians targeted by the Hofstad group. “Someone was hired who was on his way with a revolver to kill Hirsi Ali and me.” Wilders, who has been under heavy security for years because of threats, said he feels unsafe because of the idea that he could encounter Sahla in the House of Representatives.
Lower limit of civilization
The PVV leader also lashed out at Soumaya Sahla’s sister Fonda Sahla, who is in the Lower House for D66. She wears a headscarf, something the party has been protesting for some time.
Wilders’ failure on Tuesday led to fierce protest from various parties, such as GroenLinks and D66, who felt that Chamber President Bergkamp should intervene – which he did not do. VVD leader Mark Rutte said a day later that he felt that Wilders had “went through a lower limit of style and civilization”.