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Radicals up for Van Gogh murder
03/11/2004 23:46 - (SA)
Amsterdam - Dutch prosecutors said on Wednesday police have arrested eight more
suspected Islamic radicals as part of ongoing investigations into
the brutal killing of outspoken Dutch filmmaker Theo van Gogh.
The arrests were made in the 24 hours following Van Gogh's
slaying while he was cycling down an Amsterdam street, said
prosecution spokesperson Dop Kruimel. They are in addition to the
arrest of the alleged killer, a 26-year-old Amsterdam resident of
Moroccan origin.
Six of the detainees are of Moroccan ancestry, one is Algerian
and the last has dual Spanish-Moroccan nationality, Kruimel said.
Kruimel said the suspects, whose identities were not released,
were detained and released during an October 2003 investigation
into a potential terrorist threat.
"They were previously known to us," Kruimel said. "As of now
only one suspect is being held for Van Gogh's murder, but the
investigation will determine if others may have been connected."
The Dutch have reacted with outrage to the killing of the
celebrity filmmaker who criticised Islam, testing the nation's
famed tolerance and straining already tense relations with the
large Muslim immigrant population.
Mainstream Dutch Muslim groups condemned Tuesday's killing,
which some experts are calling the first act of Islamic terrorism
in the Netherlands.
The respected NRC Handelsblad reported that conservative
politician Ayan Hirsi Ali, who wrote the script for Van Gogh's
latest provocative movie criticising the treatment of women under
Islam, received a death threat in an e-mail Wednesday that read:
"You're next."
Police and eyewitnesses said the attacker shot Van Gogh, stabbed
him, cut his throat with one knife, and pinned a note to his chest
with another.
According to NRC
Handelsblad, the note called for an Islamic Holy war.
- SAPA
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