One of the two American tourists stabbed by an Afghan refugee at Amsterdam’s central station at the end of August is now in a wheelchair with spinal injuries. His lawyer told a procedural hearing on Tuesday that the man may have to spend the rest of his life in a wheelchair. 'His life, and that of his wife, has been ruined,' the lawyer said. The other victim was stabbed in the arm and still finds it difficult to hold things although he is back at work. Neither man was at Tuesday’s court session but they will attend the full trial later this year, the lawyer said. Jawed S, who had a German residency permit, told the court he had come deliberately to the Netherlands to carry out his attack. He made the trip, he said, because Islam was being insulted in the Netherlands due to Geert Wilders' cartoon competition. During the hearing, S said he would do the same thing again.'If he does it again, then I will do it again and again,' S said. 'I will accept the challenge he has offered me.' S said that he wanted to be seen as a martyr and did not expect to survive the attack. S was already under police observation for ‘strange behaviour’ when he launched his attack in the western tunnel under the station. A specially trained spotter had noticed S ‘aimlessly wandering around’ and alerted colleagues. They were on the point of questioning him when S stabbed one of his victims in the back. Nine seconds later he attacked the second and police shot him in the hip. S had two large knives in his possession, one of which was still in his rucksack. S who was being held at the high security prison in Vught has now been taken to the Pieter Baan centre for psychiatric observation.  More >

A 44-year-old man who plotted to carry out terrorist attacks on Muslims has been jailed for three years by a court in Zutphen. The court was told Vincent T had set up a Facebook group with the aim of 'combating Muslims' and had tried to recruit members and get hold of weapons online. He also planned to 'blast off leftwing leaders', naming television presenter turned politician Sylvana Simons as a potential target. The AIVD security service said it believed that T planned to put his words into action. He had also searched under terms such as 'killer for hire' and information about making bombs on the internet, the AIVD said. 'His active hunt for weapons and being in possession of nearly 2,000 bullets means T had past the phase of being a 'keyboard terrorist', the court said in its ruling. T is being held in the maximum security prison in Vught. The Dutch counter terrorism unit NCTV said last month there has been a rise in right wing extremism in Western Europe as a whole but the situation in the Netherlands is not yet as serious as in the early 1990s. In the Netherlands, far right violence is usually unorganised and involves small groups who don’t feel the need to be part of a known organisation, the NCTV says. According to official figures, there were 45 cases of far-right violence in the Netherlands in 2016, the most recent figures in the report.  More >

The police last month raided three locations used by the Jehovah’s Witnesses in connection with a major inquiry into sexual abuse, broadcaster RTL said on Thursday. The raids took place on November 19 and included the religious group’s headquarters in Emmen and two church buildings. In addition, four private homes were searched as part of the inquiry. The raids were prompted by multiple reports of sexual abuse made by victims against both former and current church members, a public prosecution spokesman told RTL. The department is currently investigating nine cases involving Jehovah’s Witnesses, the spokesman said. Justice minister Sander Dekker said in August the public prosecution department had begun a criminal investigation into sexual abuse within the Jehovah’s Witnesses community after at least five people have made a formal complaint. And in July, MPs from across the political spectrum called for an investigation after the church said it would not sanction an independent inquiry into dozens of claims of abuse. Protection The church authorities say that measures have been put in place to protect children and very few victims have come forward. However, a foundation set up by victims of sexual abuse within the Jehovah’s Witnesses has already registered 276 potential cases of abuse. Dekker said last year that the church should look to the example of the Catholic church to dealing with complaints about sexual abuse. In total, 3,712 people have reported being victims of sexual abuse within the Catholic church to a special hotline set up in 2010. There are some 30,000 Jehovah’s Witnesses in the Netherlands.  More >

Five people have been arrested in the Netherlands as part of a Europe-wide campaign against a Calabrian mafia organisation, which has resulted in 84 arrests, the pan-European legal cooperation body Eurojust said on Wednesday. In total, eight homes were raided in the Netherlands - in Zoetermeer, The Hague, Amsterdam, Amstelveen, Velsen, Rotterdam, Tegelen and Sittard. A sixth Dutch national was picked up in Germany on the request of the Dutch authorities. Police also seized thousands of euros in cash, four tonnes of cocaine and 140 kilos of ecstasy pills in their Dutch raids, Eurojust, which is based in The Hague, said. Europe-wide, at least €2m in cash was confiscated. Bert Langerak, head of the tax authority's FIOD investigation department, told a news conference that today's raids stem from a probe into potential money laundering at Italian restaurants in Venray and Horst in 2014. 'Step by step, the authorities involved in Operation Pollino, including investigative judges, worked very intensively together to fit together the pieces, and pooled their knowledge and creativity in order to establish a joint strategy and uncover the actual magnitude and complexity of the criminal activity of the ‘Ndrangheta,' Eurojust said. Special unit 'This aggressive, mafia-style organised criminal group is one of the most powerful criminal networks in the world, and controls much of Europe's cocaine trade, combined with systematic money laundering, bribery and violent acts.' The AD said last year that Dutch police had introduced a special police unit completely dedicated to fighting mafia activities on Dutch soil. That move was made in response to complaints by the Italian government about Dutch complacency in the face of mafia activity, allowing wanted criminals to live ‘a carefree life’ in the Netherlands, the paper said. A 2012 police report showed the Ndrangheta could have as many as a hundred active members in this country. Mafia activity in the Netherlands is mainly concentrated around the drugs and weapons trade but experts warn the criminal organisation is infiltrating sectors of the Dutch economy as well. In 2015 police investigation showed a mafia family had been active in the Aalsmeer flower auction for years.  More >