A 31-year-old man from Tajikistan was sentenced to 5.5 years in prison on Monday by the Rotterdam court. According to the court, he was involved in recruiting members for the Islamic State (IS) in several countries, including the Netherlands, to prepare attacks.
According to the court, the man wanted to earn as much money as possible for IS. “The suspect is therefore a great danger to Dutch society,” the judge ruled.
The Public Prosecution Service (OM) previously demanded a prison sentence of eight years against the man. According to the public prosecutor, he was a member of ISKP, an Afghan branch of IS.
The Tajik was arrested in Eindhoven in July 2023. The police tracked him down after an official report from the General Intelligence and Security Service (AIVD). According to this report, he was a member of IS and had been tasked with preparing an attack. Although the plans were not yet concrete, the OM considered the threat serious enough to intervene.
During an undercover operation, the man allegedly told a police informant that he swore allegiance to IS. “Maybe, but that was to impress,” he said during an earlier hearing. “I felt that they loved this organization.” He denied being involved with IS.
Part of a larger network
According to the court, the Tajik surrounded himself in several countries with people who pursued the same goal. “His arrival in the Netherlands can also be seen in that light.”
The Dutch police worked with Germany at the time because the man had contact with people living in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. In the German investigation, seven suspects were arrested in 2023 for allegedly preparing an attack.
The Tajik’s then-wife was arrested at the same time as him. She was acquitted by the court last year. The couple had been staying in the Netherlands since 2022 and have since divorced.