Dutch court convicts 9 Islamist extremists trained in Pakistan

Dutch court convicts 9 Islamist extremists

PARIS -- A Dutch court convicted nine members of an Islamic extremist cell on terror charges Friday, but the relatively light sentences and acquittals of five other suspects revealed continuing legal obstacles to fighting terrorism in the Netherlands.

The verdicts announced in a heavily-guarded courtroom in Amsterdam were a partial victory for prosecutors in the case against the Hofstad Group, which stunned the Netherlands when its leader assassinated filmmaker Theo van Gogh in November 2004.

The predominantly Dutch-born militants stood out because of their youth, ferocity and the prominent role of women members in the network. The threat it posed forced a number of political figures in the usually tranquil country to go into hiding, temporarily flee the country and protect themselves with 24-hour security details.

The three-judge panel convicted van Gogh's assassin, Mohammed Bouyeri, who is already serving a life sentence for the ritualistic shooting and stabbing of the outspoken filmmaker.

The judges imposed 15-year and 13-year sentences, respectively, on Jason Walters, 21, and Ismail Aknikh, 23, for attempted murder and membership in a terrorist group. Walters and Aknikh, both of whom had traveled to Pakistan to train with militants, wounded three police officers with grenades during a standoff in The Hague soon after the van Gogh murder.