me Posted January 24, 2008 The Netherlands: Government Said to Back Off Burqa Ban By REUTERS Published: January 24, 2008 The government has decided it will not impose a general ban on the wearing of burqas and similar garments in public on security grounds, but will bar them and full-face veils at schools and for government workers, local news reports said. They said the government had concluded that a broad ban would violate the constitutionally guaranteed freedom of religion. About a million Muslims live in the Netherlands, and Muslim groups say just 50 to 100 women regularly wear a burqa. Geert Wilders, the right-wing leader of an anti-immigration party, sent a bill to Parliament last July proposing a ban on the burqa in public. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
me Posted January 24, 2008 Dutch appeal court acquits "Hofstad" group Published: Wednesday 23 January 2008 19:34 UTC Last updated: Thursday 24 January 2008 13:24 UTC The Hague - A Dutch appeal court in The Hague has acquitted seven men accused of belonging to a terrorist organisation, known as the "Hofstad" group. The men were arrested in 2004 on suspicion of preparing terrorist attacks in the Netherlands, shortly after the murder of filmmaker Theo van Gogh. The appeal court ruled that the group was a network, but it did not have a common ideology with terrorist intent. The sentence of the main suspect Jason Walters, originally a US citizen, remains the same at 15 years. He threw a grenade at police shortly before they attempted to raid the apartment he was in. The sentence of a second man in the apartment, Ismaïl Akhnikh, was reduced from 13 years to 15 months and he was released. The men regularly met at the house of Mohamed Bouyeri, who is serving a life sentence for the murder of Theo van Gogh. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
