For the third time in six years, jihadist Mohammed G. from Maastricht is on trial. On Tuesday he must answer for his membership of a terrorist organization, jihadist plans and his (financial) role in a fatal kidnapping in South Africa.
A persistent jihadist who poses a great danger to society. Judges and probation officers have little reason in recent years to believe that a prison sentence alone is sufficient to make jihadist Mohammed G. (30) from Maastricht abandon his violent ideology.
When G. goes on trial for the second time in 2016 for attempting to join the violent jihad in Syria, the court imposes tbs in addition to three years in prison as a "tougher stick." Because no psychiatric disorder is diagnosed, the legal grounds for tbs lapse, the court rules a year later. Because of his "persistent jihadist ideas," G. receives an exceptionally long probation period of five years with a firm set of conditions - such as interviews with an Islam expert - in addition to the prison sentence. The only option the court has to minimize the danger Muhammad G. poses.
In overheard conversations, G. has indicated he wants to fight and kill in Syria and do "something" in the Netherlands if he is blocked in his jihad course. The danger he poses is "extremely high," if it is not grandstanding by G. In that case, he is willing to use violence in and outside the Netherlands, the probation service says.
Violent crime
That assessment seems justified. Barely four months after being released, he was arrested again early last year. Not because of jihadism, the prosecution initially said, but because of involvement in a serious violent crime abroad.
Gradually, the investigation focuses on G.'s role in an (online) network of radicals working together on terrorist plans and on financial involvement in a violent kidnapping case in South Africa. That kidnapping - by G.'s jihadi contacts in South Africa - ultimately cost the lives of botanist couple Rodney (63) and Rachel (73) Saunders. So it appears from fragmented pieces of information raised in the interim pro forma hearings.
Mohammed G. has had online contacts with all those now suspects in the South African case since 2015. Presumably, prosecutors say, robbery was the purpose of the violent kidnapping and the money was allegedly intended for terrorist organizations. G. allegedly used stolen credit card information from the woman to try to buy bitcoins for $127. He is also alleged to have been in close contact with a senior spokesman for Islamic State in Africa, according to information from the U.S. investigative agency FBI. Mohammed G. is also accused of membership in a terrorist organization: Islamic State.
Djinn
G. has been under the spell of violent jihad for years. In 2012, he is arrested as he, along with two comrades, prepares to leave for Syria. It is a djinn (Islamic demon) who forces him to jihad, G. says. He is declared completely insane and goes to a psychiatric hospital for a year. After that, G., under the guise of visiting family, leaves almost immediately for Iraq. Attempts to join IS and cross the border into Syria fail. He returns to Maastricht in 2015 but almost immediately undertakes new attempts, with the purchase of a false passport, to travel out and inquires about purchasing weapons. The 2012 djinn inexplicably disappeared. G. eventually receives three years in prison, one of which is suspended. He tells himself he wants to build a "quiet life in the Netherlands."
His contacts point to something else. After release, he falls back on old "friends. The day before his arrest on Feb. 26, he empties his phone and restores the device's factory settings. The first contact he resets in his cellphone after rebooting is that of a man from Somalia, one of the suspects detained for the kidnapping case in South Africa, the prosecutor outlined.
Nature Reserve
British couple Saunders are searching for seeds and plants in a nature reserve in KwaZulu-Natal when they are kidnapped in mid-February 2018. Their bodies, or their remains, are found after some time on the banks of the Tugela River. Coded messages from the kidnappers' phones later reveal that they attacked the couple as part of a plot "to kill the kuffar (infidels, ed.) and kidnap their allies, destroy infrastructure and put fear in the hearts of the kuffar.
The male prime suspect also advised someone via the app Telegram on how to make a bomb, according to the prosecution. Who? Nothing has been said about that so far; that must be revealed at the substantive hearings.
G. comes into the picture because of information from the secret service AIVD and British authorities. In addition to his financial involvement in the kidnapping case, G. has been working with these international contacts on terrorist plans since 2015, according to the prosecution. These would include arranging trips to Syria and Libya, setting up a training camp in Somalia and buying weapons. They also allegedly wanted to lure women to Libya to sell them on the slave market.
Human shield
Next Tuesday the case will be heard in substance at the Rotterdam District Court and G. - who said in the first hearing that he knew nothing about the abduction and death of the botanists in South Africa - will be allowed to respond to these charges. In South Africa, the case has taken an unusual turn and has been postponed for further investigation until later this month.
At the request of the prosecution, the trial will take place in August behind closed doors under heavy security after an alleged escape attempt by the suspected trio - a South African couple and a Somali - was discovered. Intelligence reportedly indicated that the trio were prepared to attack police, prosecutors and court personnel and die as martyrs according to their ideology. The plan was to take public hostages and use them as human shields in the attack, an investigating official told the South African press.
