Judge steps down in jihad recruitment case

In the case against suspected jihadi recruiter 'Abou Moussa', the examining judge has been taken from the case because the commissioning judge has aroused suspicions of bias, and has been replaced, the Algemeen Dagblad reports. During arraignment of Moussa in the court in The Hague, the commissioning judge said that he read the ideology attached to the dossier by the examining judge, which "is an ideology that leads to offenses that we all abhor." At the time, the case against 32-year-old Moussa and 24-year-old co-conspirators was prolonged. The court believes that the judge was prejudiced. Lawyer André Seebregts now believes that there will be a new, "independent" judge. "It's once again clear how big the danger is that people, even judges, already have their conviction as soon as the word 'terrorism' is mentioned." Moussa, real name Azzedine C., is in court to be tried on suspicion of jihad-recruitment. He is accused of preparing "murder/manslaughter with a terroristic intent" in Iraq and Syria, the AD writes. Part of the case is also the suspicion that Moussa promoted terrorist acts on social media.