Video was not goodbye, says terror suspect

A video showing terrorist suspect Samir Azzouz dressed as a suicide bomber and saying goodbye to friends and family was not a real farewell message, Azzouz said in court this morning, according to media reports.


It was one of a number of videos he made to amuse himself, he explained. ‘It should look like [a real one] one and it does,’ Dutch media reported him as saying. ‘I wanted to get rid of my frustrations. I wanted to know what I would look like. I copied some words exactly from the men who carried out the London tube bombings.’
Azzouz and five others are currently on trial in Amsterdam, charged with illegal possession of weapons and planning terrorist attacks. It is the third time Azzouz has been in court on similar charges. He has twice been found not guilty.
Although he renounced the Dutch state, democracy and the court, he was not able to carry out attacks because he held a Dutch passport, news agency ANP reported Azzouz as saying. ‘I renounce the system [with words], but not with action. Only if (immigration) minister Verdonk takes away my passport can I do something,’ he said.

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