History
The Dutch General Intelligence and Security Service AIVD dubbed the group Hofstad Network for internal purposes in the fall of 2002. The name was first publicly used by the Dutch Prosecutor's Office on 10 November 2004, after a police raid in the Antheunisstraat in The Hague.
On 14 October 2003, Samir Azzouz, Ismail Akhnikh, Jason Walters and Redouan al-Issar were put under arrest for planning a terrorist attack in the Netherlands, but were released soon after. Azzouz was eventually tried in this case, but acquitted for lack of evidence in 2005: he did possess what he thought to be a home-made bomb, but having used the wrong type of fertilizer the device would never have exploded.
Shortly after the murder of Theo van Gogh by Mohammed Bouyeri in November 2004 the organization gained attention from national media when an attempt to arrest suspected members Jason Walters and Ismail Akhnikh led to a 14-hour siege of a house in The Hague. During these events, the name Hofstad Network became public and the media has continued to use this moniker to refer to the organization. In the months after the siege, a number of other suspected members of the organization were arrested. On 5 December 2005, the Hofstad court case against 14 suspected members started.
On 10 March, the court convicted nine of the 14 suspects of being member of a criminal terrorist organisation. The other five suspected member were acquitted of this charge.
In the meantime, Samir Azzouz, Jermaine Walters – suspected but not incarcerated – and another 5 members were arrested on suspicion of preparing an attack against (yet unnamed) national politicians and the building of the General Intelligence and Security Agency AIVD on 14 October 2005. In this separate case Nouredine el Fahtni is also a suspect.
On 1 December 2005, Samir Azzouz was sentenced to eight years in prison.
Read more about this topic: Hofstad Network
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