Samir A. remains in prison for longer for supporting 14 IS women in Syria | Inland

LIVE – Reporter Silvan Schoonhoven is present at the trial. You can read his tweets at the bottom of this article.

Samir A. has been detained since June for raising money for women and children in the Kurdish camps. He is considered the Netherlands’ best-known jihadist, former member of the so-called Hofstad group and previously convicted of terrorist activities. He was imprisoned for nine years and was released in 2017.

During an introductory hearing, the public prosecutor said that A. “is active in an international network that includes smugglers.” By sending money and helping the women to escape from the camps, the women can return to their countries of origin out of sight of governments, according to justice, but most of them would want to stay in Syria.

This summer, a large group of Dutch IS women escaped from the Kurdish camp. They moved to Idlib where they rented a spacious house with a swimming pool together. Some of the women would have escaped thanks to the gifts from the Netherlands. Money has been sent to Angela B. from Soesterberg and Hafida H. from Delft, among others.

“These are children who are in danger of life,” Samir told De Telegraaf last year about the purpose of the collection, which he did together with fellow Hofstad group member Bilal L. The duo spoke openly with this newspaper and NRC last year about their large-scale collection plans. Samir’s lawyer Tamara Buruma thinks the investigation started after the newspaper reports.

Sending money to IS women in Syria is a criminal offense, the judiciary emphasizes. One of the measures taken by the Netherlands to combat terrorism is precisely to freeze the assets of these women and place their names on the national terrorism sanction list.

Samir himself says that he is not aware of the fact that the fundraising was always done with an open mind. “From the beginning I have said to the women: be open. Of course I changed my number every now and then so as not to get in trouble. ”

Samir A. was in the prison’s maximum-security terrorist unit for six years due to attack plans and then had to wear an ankle bracelet for four more years. He has only been able to move freely since 2017.

According to the prosecution, A. has taken money from relatives and acquaintances of women “who have traveled to the Middle East to participate in the violent jihad.” The money is said to have been sent to the women in the Middle East by another man. A’s lawyer says the money raised was for women and children in camps in Kurdish areas. A. has sent them money, food and medicine, says the counsel. She says that money never went to the terrorist movement IS.

Samir A. was arrested at the end of June after the Fiscal Intelligence and Investigation Service (FIOD) had searched four homes and a business premises in the Rotterdam region. The session in Rotterdam on Thursday is an introductory session, the first in public, and will include extending his pre-trial detention.

The former member of the Hofstad group, previously sentenced to nine years in prison for terrorism, was released in September 2013. The Hofstad Group was a network of radical Islamic youth, to which A. belonged. Mohammed B., the murderer of film-maker Theo van Gogh, was also included in the group.

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