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Ard van der Steur (Photo: Rijksoverheid.nl/Wikimedia Commons)
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Ard van der Steur (Photo: Rijksoverheid.nl/Wikimedia Commons)
Tuesday, 29 March 2016 - 08:33
Justice Min., MPs set to debate Brussels attack
Exactly a week after three suicide bombings in Brussels, the Dutch Parliament will debate the issue with Prime Minister Mark Rutte and Minister Ard van der Steur of Security and Justice. The debate is scheduled for 5:15 p.m. on Tuesday.
Sure to be central to the debate is the extradition of suicide bomber Ibrahim El Bakraoui from Turkey to the Netherlands last year. Parliamentarians set 166 questions about the matter to Van der Steur. He must answer them before the debate.
According to Mark Singelton, director of the International Center for Counterterrorism in The Hague, the first two questions on the list are the most important, he said to BNR. Should El Bakraoui have been on a list for internationally wanted criminals? And why was there no contact between the Dutch and Turkish police about his extradition?
Singleton also said that the Tweede Kamer, the lower house of Dutch parliament, is not paying enough attention to the bigger picture behind the problem. "There are many interesting questions, which are not included, for example: how did it ever come this far? Because no one is born a terrorist. How do you prevent radicalization? How is it that in Belgium so many people are radicalized?"