Seven young men accused of being members of a terrorist organisation should face up to 17 years in jail, the public prosecution department said on Wednesday.

Jason Walters, a Muslim convert with an American father and Dutch mother, was earlier sentenced to 15 years in jail on five counts of attempted murder for throwing a hand grenade at police during his arrest but found not guilty of being a member of a terror organisation.
Walters has since renounced Muslim extremism, saying it is ‘moraly bankrupt’ and offers ‘false promises and ideals’.

High court
The case is being heard again following a high court ruling.
The seven were found not guilty of being members of a terrorist organisation at their appeal in the Hague in 2008.
But in February this year, the high court ruled the definitions for the ‘existence and structure of a criminal or terrorist organisation’ used by the appeal court were ‘too strict’ and has ordered the case to be retried.

Hofstad
The seven are part of a loose grouping of of young Muslims which police named the Hofstad group. It is said to include Mohammed Bouyeri who murdered film maker Theo van Gogh in 2004.
At their first trial, judges had ruled the gang was a terrorist organisation but said there was no proof that it was planning actual attacks and making threats. Of the 14 men originally tried on terrorism charges, five were found not guilty and two have been deported as undesirable aliens.