Text in Dutch:
Op 2 november 2004 werd Theo van Gogh vermoord. Volgens de rechter ging het om een terroristische aanslag. De dader, Mohammed B., was een prominent lid van de Hofstadgroep, een radicaal islamitisch netwerk. Enkele belangrijke stellingen uit het boek:
Mohammed B. heeft hoogstwaarschijnlijk niet op eigen houtje gehandeld, er zijn sterke aanwijzingen dat anderen van de plannen van de moord op de hoogte zijn geweest;
Mohammed B. beschikte over beelden van seks met een vrouwelijk lijk; dit duidt erop dat hij seksueel pervers was;
Een ander prominent lid van de Hofstadgroep, Jason W., stond in Pakistan mogelijk in contact met een terreurgroep waarmee tenminste ook een van de zelfmoordterroristen die op 7 juli 2005 in Londen toesloegen, in contact stond;
Samir A. had niet vrijgelaten moeten worden; zijn voorbereidingshandelingen wezen sterk in de richting van plannen voor een aanslag;
Door tijdige arrestaties van leden van de Hofstadgroep zijn plannen voor een aanslag op onder meer een of meer bekende politici, verstoord; bij Mohammed B. was men, mede door inschattingsfouten, te laat geweest;
Er zijn nog andere ‘Hofstadgroepen’ die minder de aandacht hebben getrokken en die mogelijk nog veel gevaarlijker zijn;
De kans dat er in Nederland een terreuraanslag wordt gepleegd, is zeer reëel; dat kan gebeuren door personen uit of rond een Hofstadgroep maar ook door personen of groepen die tot dusverre minder de aandacht hebben getrokken;
In JordaniÎ richtte Abu Musab al-Zarqawi in 1993/94 ook een soort ‘Hofstadgroep’ (met 16 leden) op; door arrestaties konden in 1994 aanslagen op het nippertje worden voorkomen.
Het boek De Hofstadgroep (een islamistisch terreurnetwerk in Nederland dat mogelijk enkele aanslagen voorbereidde) verscheen op 6 oktober 2005 en was binnen Eén week uitverkocht. Begin november 2005 verscheen reeds de derde druk. Het is het eerste boek over de Hofstadgroep en verscheen twee maanden vóór het grote proces tegen de Hofstadgroep. Het boek werd op 11 oktober 2005 aan de ouders van Theo van Gogh aangeboden. Het was toen bijna een jaar geleden dat hun zoon Theo vermoord werd door Mohammed Bouyeri, een prominent lid van de Hofdstadgroep. Het boek is enkele weken voor 2 november 2005 – precies een jaar na de moord op Theo van Gogh – verschenen omdat de auteur bij die datum speciaal wil stilstaan. Toen waren er bovendien al een aantal zogenaamde ‘pro-formazittingen van de Rotterdamse rechtbank geweest waarbij meer dan tien leden van de Hofstadgroep voor de rechter verschenen.
Aan het boek De Hofstadgroep werd al direct ruim aandacht geschonken door onder meer Planet Internet, Expatria, ANP TV, RTV Noord-Holland, Talpa, Twee Vandaag (Tros TV), Kunststof (Publieke Omroep, Radio 1), Met het Oog op Morgen (Radio 1), De Stad Amersfoort (een huis-aan-huisblad met een grote verspreiding) en de Wereldomroep (op 2 december 2005).
Text in English:
On November 2, 2004, Dutch filmmaker and columnist Theo van Gogh was murdered in Amsterdam by a religious fanatic. In its verdict the Court in Amsterdam referred to the killing of Van Gogh as ‘an act of terrorism.’ The killer, Mohammed Bouyeri, was a prominent member of the so-called ‘Hofstadgroup’ (‘Hofstadgroep’ in Dutch), a radical-islamic (or islamist) network in the Netherlands.
The most important findings of this very first book on the Hofstadgroup are:
(A note on copyright: This material and the material elsewhere in this website can only be quoted by others if proper reference is made to the author’s book(s) and/or the author’s website emersonvermaat.com.)
Is is unlikely that the killer Mohammed Bouyeri was acting on his own. He must have had assistance from others who knew about his plans to kill Theo van Gogh (money and a pistol were provided, some friends of Bouyeri’s assisted him in spotting his target, etc.) (see De Hofstadgroep, pages 59-63; 93-96).
In Bouyeri’s small house in Amsterdam-West a CD-Rom was found showing pictures or films, of, among other things, sex with a dead female body as well as the public amputation of a penis. Bouyeri may have tended to sexual perversion. From his writings on the internet and his ‘Open Letters,’ a picture emerges of a man who feels extremely attracted to death and destruction (‘O Netherlands..., O Europe.,., O America... I know you will perish!’ ‘The dark clouds of death...’) Mohammed Bouyeri glorified death and at least one witness claims that he enjoyed horror video’s of beheadings of Western hostages in Iraq, Chechnya or Pakistan. With a big knife (a machete) he similarly tried to cut off Theo van Gogh’s head (but failed to do so in the end). Freud pointed out that the death instinct is closely linked to the sex instinct and Erich Fromm (in his thorough study The Anatomy of Human Destructiveness) refers to the ‘malignant aggression of Adolf Hitler’ (who was equally fascinated with death and destruction) as ‘a clinical case of necrophilia.’ See De Hofstadgroep, pages 54-58 (‘Sex with a dead female body’).
Another prominent member of the Hofstadgroup, Jason J. Walters (American father, Dutch mother), made two trips to Pakistan. During his first trip (late Summer 2003), Walters received, he claims in a chatlog, a basic weapon training. He was probably in touch with ‘Jaish-e-Mohammed’ (JeM), a terrorist Kashmiri network linked to Al-Qaeda and previously possibly financed by Osama bin Laden. Two of the London suicidebombers (Mohammed Khan and Shehzad Tanweer who blew themselves up in London metro on July 7, 2005) also paid a long visit to Pakistan (but one year later than Jason Walters). They were also in touch with ‘Jaish-e-Mohammed’ and probably even received training in a JeM camp (this does not mean, of course, that Jason Walters knew the two men from London). See De Hofstadgroep, pages 89-93 (‘Jihad training in Pakistan’).
The Court decision to release Samir Azzouz in April 2005 (in November 2005, the Court of Appeal upheld the decision of the lower court) was subject to both praise (especially lawyers lauded the decision as legally correct and courageous, resisting pressure from public opinion) and criticism. In the author’s view the decision to release Samir Azzouz was not very wise. Samir Azzouz is a dangerous young fanatic who was planning a terrorist attack. The fact that he did this in a rather amateuristic manner should not be a reason for acquittal. See De Hofstadgroep, pages 110-118 (‘Preparations for a Terrorist Attack?’).
Due to timely arrests of terrorist suspects and the alertness of the Dutch General Intelligence and Security Service (AIVD) possible preparations for terrorist attacks such as plans to kill one or more famous Dutch politicians have been thwarted. In the case of Bouyeri, however, the AIVD failed to prevent a terrorist act – a thing they regretted strongly, learning a lesson from it. See De Hofstadgroep, pages 110-115 (‘Preparations for a terrorist attack?’), 124-127 (‘Plans for a suicide attack?’), 127-130 (‘EK in Portugal: target for a terrorist attack?’).
There are other ‘Hofstadgroups’ which have not received as much attention as the group to which Mohammed Bouyeri and Samir Azzouz belonged and which are not as closely monitored by the Dutch security service AIVD. These other groups may be just as dangerous as the original Hofstadgroup or they may be even more dangerous, especially if they have links with international terrorist groups in Pakistan or Iraq (such as Abu Musab Zarqawi). A major terrorist attack in Holland (like the ones in London and Madrid) is to be expected. Such an attack may very well be prepared by a smaller and tighter and higly professional group. Yet, members of the original Hofstadgroup (like Samir Azzouz) also continue pose a serious security risk and may evolve into professional terrorists. See De Hofstadgroup, p. 135-141 (‘The chances of a terrorist attack in Holland’).
Abu Musab Al Zarqawi is a Jordanian by birth. Before he joined Al-Qaeda in 1999, he and his mentor Abu Mohammed Al-Maqdisi created a small group of young radical Muslims in Jordan in 1993/94. This group had about the same size as the Dutch Hofstadgroup (the latter though, originated at the end of 2002), and was also meeting in private homes. The charismatic Maqdisi held firebrand speeches on the necessity of jihad. Likewise, in de Dutch Hofstadgroup there also was a charismatic leader, the Syrian Redouan Al-Issa, a failed asylumseeker. Due to arrests by the Jordanian authorities, a terrorist attack planned by the Zarqawi-Maqdisi network could be prevented just in time. See De Hofstadgroup, p. 138.
In Spain there were also groups comparable to the Dutch Hofstadgroup. One of these groups was created by a Tunesian immigrant called Serhane Fakhet. They met in private homes and were inspired by video’s on the suffering of Muslims and radical messages by, for example Osama bin Laden. Fakhet would later play a major role in the terrorist attacks in Madrid in March 2004. See De Hofstadgroep, p. 138; see also: Emerson Vermaat, De dodelijke planning van Al-Qaida, p. 139: ‘Fakhet, the coordinator of the Madrid attacks.’)
Prominent members of the Hofstadgroup such as Mohammed Bouyeri and Samir Azzouz strongly sympathize with Al-Qaeda, Osama bin Laden and Musab Al-Zarqawi. See De Hofstadgroep, p. 54 (Bouyeri had a book on ‘The Experiences of Zarqawi’ in his possession), p. 87 (‘Sheikh Bin Laden is good...’), p. 101 (Samir Azzouz: ‘Bin Laden is fighting the Americans just as he was fighting the Russians...’), p. 110 (‘We love Bin Laden so much that he is in our soul...’).
The book The Hofstadgroup was published on October 6, 2005 and sold out within a week. The third printing: early November 2005. It was the first book on The Hofstadgroup (a radical-islamic and terrorist network in the Netherlands which was preparing a number of terrorist attacks), deliberately published two months before the start of the major Hofdstadgroup trial in Amsterdam. The book was published in October 2005 because the author wanted to commemorate the date Theo van Gogh was killed in Amsterdam. On November 2, 2005 it was exactly one year ago. For this reason the book was dedicated and presented to the parents and relatives of Theo van Gogh. Soon after its publication, the author was interviewed or his book was mentioned by Planet Internet, Expatria, ANP TV, RTV Noord-Holland, Talpa, Twee Vandaag (Tros TV), Kunststof (Radio 1), Met het Oog op Morgen (Radio 1), De Stad Amersfoort.
Commentaar van de ouders van Theo van Gogh (drs. J. van Gogh en Anneke van Gogh) tijdens de aanbieding van het boek in Wassenaar op 11 oktober 2005:
‘Wij geloven dat dit boek ons meer inzicht zal verschaffen in het netwerk waar Mohammed B., de moordenaar van onze zoon Theo, deel van uitmaakte. Tijdens de rechtszaak tegen Mohammed B. kwam dat aspect maar zijdelings aan de orde.’
Opmerking auteur bij de aanbieding:
‘Ik heb dit boek met enige emotie geschreven. Ik was geschokt dat zoiets in Nederland kon gebeuren. Een aantal hoofdstukken gaat over Mohammed B., de moord op uw zoon en het proces tegen de moordenaar. Er zit veel feitenmateriaal in. Ik hoop dat mijn boek u zal helpen bij de verwerking van uw verdriet.’
Comments made by the parents of Theo van Gogh when the book ‘De Hofstadgroep’ was presented to them in Wassenaar on October 11, 2005:
‘We believe this book will enable us to get a clearer picture of the network around Mohammed B., the man who killed our son Theo. The trial against Mohammed B. largely focussed on him, the network to which he belonged was touched upon only indirectly.’
Comments by the author when the book was presented to the parents of Theo van Gogh:
‘There is some degree of personal emotion in this book. I was shocked that things like this could happen in Holland. A number of chapters are about Mohammed B., the killing of your son and the trial against the killer B. The book summarizes a lot of facts. I hope the book will help you to deal with your suffering.’
Citaat auteur uit interview met TV nieuwsprogramma ‘Twee Vandaag’, 14 oktober 2005:
‘Samir A. is net zo gevaarlijk als Mohammed B.’
Quote from author in Dutch newsprogramme ‘Twee Vandaag,’ 14 October 2005
‘Samir A. is just as dangerous as Mohammed B.’
Citaat auteur uit interview met ‘Kunststof’ (Radio 1), 1 november 2005:
‘Ze kunnen dan wel amateuristisch zijn (al kun je iemand als Mohammed B. geen amateur meer noemen) en veel herrie maken, maar ze zijn wel heel gevaarlijk. Er is er eentje aangehouden die een doorgeladen machinepistool bij zich had. Zo’n wapen heb je niet voor niets bij je. Dat wapen had hij wel in een trein kunnen leegschieten of met zo’n wapen had hij een politicus als Van Aartsen of iemand van de SP kunnen doodschieten.’
Quote from author in ‘Kunststof’ (Radio 1), 1 November 2005:
‘They may be amateuristic (but somebody like Mohammed B. no longer was an amateur) and make a lot of noise, but they are also quite dangerous. One of them has been arrested having a machinegun, ready for use. You don’t have a weapon like that just for fun. He could have killed a number of passengers in a train or he could have shot a politician like Van Aartsen or somebody from the SP (Socialist Party).’
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