Dutch police are concerned that an Islamic foundation helping asylum seekers in the Netherlands has jihadi sympathies, the NRC says on Tuesday, quoting police sources.

The police are considering launching a criminal investigation into the De Bilt-based foundation Al-Ighaatha and MPs from across the political spectrum have called for it to be banned from refugee centres, the paper says.

The paper’s investigation found supporters of Al-Ighaatha have been visiting refugee centres for the past six months, distributing clothes, food and other items in Brussels,  Haarlem and Zutphen.

Facebook

In addition, the foundation supports people in jail for terrorist offences with a range of methods, ranging from letter-writing to financial support, the paper says.

On Facebook the foundation is said to describe people in jail on terrorism charges as ‘dear’ brothers who have been arrested by ‘the enemies of Allah… without any evidence’. The foundation had also distributed a video praising martyrdom, the NRC claims.

Following questions from the paper, all references to support for jihadis has been removed from the organisation’s Facebook and YouTube accounts, the NRC says.

In an entry on the organisation’s Facebook page dated January 13, Al-Ighaatha states that it was only a matter of time before journalists started looking into its activities, given the attitude in the Netherlands towards Muslims.

The statement stresses the aim of the foundation is to help Muslims in Belgium and the Netherlands in financial need and to support prisoners ‘so they don’t feel they have been abandoned by their community’.