Six years in prison for ISIS recruitment, propaganda over Telegram

The court in The Hague sentenced a 32-year-old woman from Uithoorn to six years in prison and compulsory psychological treatment for terrorism and war crimes. The woman was accused of being a follower of violent Salafist ideology and is said to have extensively distributed content in relation to the Islamic State via the social network Telegram in 2019.

The woman shared two videos in which prisoners of war were brutally murdered by members of IS, providing her own derogatory comments to the events. The woman was also found guilty of encouraging others to commit terrorist and war crimes. She trained herself and others to make explosive belts, and transferred money to persons involved in terrorist activities, the court said.

According to the court, the woman’s actions fit very well within the media strategy of the Islamic State. "As a result, she became part of this terrorist organization that is guilty of attacks in the world and that instills fear in the population," the court said.

The woman suffers from a severe neurological disorder and a psychological impulse disorder. The public prosecutor previously demanded a three-year sentence for the woman, but the court disagreed and doubled the prison term.

The court has also established for the first time that, due to the inhumane and cruel treatment of dissenters, ISIS can also be regarded as a criminal organization that aims to commit war crimes. The court said the woman has described ISIS as a "group of guys who had the right to establish the Islamic State."

By stating that, she ignored the unprecedented atrocities committed by and in the name of ISIS, the court ruled.