Amsterdam Jihad trial puts definition of “recruitment” in question

The definition of "recruitment" was put to the question in the massive jihad trial on Tuesday. The suspects see recruitment as actively coaxing someone to join an organization, the Public Prosecutor sees it differently.

Tuesday is the second day of the indictment in this case. On Monday the Public Prosecutor extensively handled the charge of sedition against the suspects, the Telegraaf reports. The Prosecutor considers this charge proven against the three main suspects - Azzedine C., Rudolph H., and Oussama C. On Tuesday the Prosecution will deal with two other important elements - the recruitment of fighters for the jihad in Syria and membership to a criminal organization with terrorist intent.

Proving the recruitment charge will be very difficult for the Public Prosecutor. There are no jihadists claiming to have been recruited, the one who did so retracted his statement last month. According to the Prosecutor, remarkably many of the suspects' public actually left for Syria.

The Public Prosecutor stated that recruitment can also be done by ripening someone ideologically and then sucking them into your cause. It does not matter if the person was already devoted to an armed struggle. "Slowly but surely spirits are being ripened, by provocative texts, to go to Syria", the Prosecutor said according to journalist Saskia Belleman, tweeting from within the courtroom.

On Monday the two Prosecutors, Simon Minks and Anna-Katrien Banning, made a point of emphasizing that Islam is not on trial, but ten jihadists because of their interpretation of Islam. "Thoughts are not punishable. Certain offenses based on those thoughts are."