Assassination in Amsterdam

[3Z]

On Tuesday morning, a well-known film director Theo van Gogh was assassinated here by an Islamic extremist because of his movie "Submission" that chronicles violence against women in Islamic societies. The film score was written by Ayaan Hirsi Ali, a Somali refugee who is a member of parliment, who fled an arranged marriage and domestic abuse in Somalia, and who has since become an outspoken critic. Ali has received numerous death threats and has been under constant police protection with bodyguards since the film was released. Today Dutch prosecuters have charged the murderer with terrorist-related charges and have also arrested 9 others in connection with the murder. They are currently investigating links between extremist groups here in The Netherlands with others in Europe, including those that carried out the Madrid train bombings last year.

A couple of news sources can be found here:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/3985291.stm
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20041102/D863NRS80.html

[3Z]

Before shooting van Gogh, the murderer attached a note to his chest with a knife. The contents of the letter have just been released, and they call for a "holy war against Europe and the US" along with more explicit death threats to Ayaan Ali.

[Jimbo]

Yup. That whole episode is pretty F-ed up. What kind of punishment do you think the perps will get?

[Hybrid]

2 suspects have been released because there was not enough evidence.

Letter to Ms. Ali (http://www.nos.nl/nieuws/achtergronden/briefverdachtevangogh.html)

This is the link to the letter found on Mr. van Gogh's body. Threathing Ms. Ali, The United States and Europe.

[3Z]

Originally posted by Jimbo
Yup. That whole episode is pretty F-ed up. What kind of punishment do you think the perps will get?

I don't know what punishment they will get. I do know that a lot of people are 'passively' enraged, and I also know that there is no death penalty here. But this will probably be a turning point, the government has to get off its ass and look seriously at the problems here. Unfortunately, I also learned today that the goverment has announced its decision to withdraw its troops from Iraq soon after 01/05. Idiots.