Jail time for Arnhem terror suspects

Two young Arnhem men were sentenced to prison for trying to join and participate in a terrorist organization in Syria, Omroep Gelderland reports.

The two, aged 18 and 23 years old, traveled from Arnhem to Turkey in September last year. They were arrested in a city close to the Turkey-Syria border.

According to the Public Prosecutor, the two men wanted to cross the border into Syria to join a terrorist organization like Islamic State.

The oldest of the two suspects was sentenced to three years in prison. The younger got a two year sentence. The Prosecutor demanded four and three years respectively.

The suspecs' lawyers asked for acquittal. According to the lawyers, it cannot be proven that the two men tried to get to Syria for terrorism purposes. One of the suspects told the court that he traveled to Turkey to help someone else escape from Syria. "I wanted to pick someone up. I wanted to be a helping hand", he said.