The six terror suspects arrested at a vacation park in Weert in September 2018 face up to seventeen years in prison. The highest sentence of seventeen years is for main suspect Hardi N. (36). The court sees him as the leader of the terrorist organization that was preparing a bloody attack in the Netherlands in 2018, which included the Gay Pride as a potential target.

Brainwashed terrorists

The court in Rotterdam will deliver its verdict in the extra-security courtroom Thursday afternoon in the criminal trial surrounding the Arnhem terror cell. The public prosecutor has demanded prison sentences of eight to twenty years against the members. A prison sentence of eighteen years was demanded against N.. He himself says he was "provoked and brainwashed" by undercover agents of the AIVD. Without the undercover action, the defendants would never have gone this far, according to the defense.

Undercover action

N. and his co-defendants were arrested in September 2018 at a vacation park in Weert, where they fitted bomb vests and practiced with deactivated Kalashnikovs in the presence of police infiltrators. That undercover action was filmed extensively with hidden cameras.Iraq-born N. was sentenced in 2017 by the court in The Hague to 24 months in prison, including 21 months on probation, for attempting to travel out to the combat zone where Islamic State was active.

Outings

Remarkably, Wail el A. (23), who lives in Rotterdam, was sentenced to 13 years in prison. The prosecution had demanded a 20-year prison sentence against him, the highest sentence because he is also suspected of attempted murder. He pointed a weapon at the police during the group's arrest. In court, he stated that he had plans to travel out to Islamic State and was looking "for people I could trust. "Nabil B. (23) was sentenced to 13 years in prison, equal to the prosecution's demand. Justice found on his laptop a farewell letter about the paradise he would achieve as a martyr with his friends.

Key to paradise

Morat M. (23), who lived in Vlaardingen, also received 13 years. Footage shown during the trial showed, among other things, M. kissing a kalashnikov and holding the weapon to his cheek. He adds that he dreamed of this and called the weapon the key to paradise. M. also preached about impending death.