Muslim org. sues Dutch State over Tilburg man in Spanish custody for terrorism

Muslim Rights Watch Nederland is suing the Dutch State over a Tilburg man who has been in custody in Spain for over six weeks on terrorism accusations. According to the organization, the State has taken no action to get the man released and is therefore guilty of negligence. It filed the suit on Wednesday, NOS reports.

The Dutch-Moroccan man was arrested during his holiday in Spain over six weeks ago on suspicion of belonging to a jihadist group in Arnhem, where he grew up. According to his lawyer, the man unjustly ended up on a list of potential terrorism suspects that the Dutch authorities shared with Interpol years ago.

The Tilburg man isn’t suspected of any form of terrorism crime in the Netherlands, the mayors of Arnhem and Tilburg wrote in a letter to the Spanish Public Prosecution Service on Thursday, asking the service to release the man.

He has never been suspected of any crimes in the past, Muslim Rights Watch said. And the Ministries of Justice and Security and Foreign Affairs refuse to take action to free the Tilburg man, the organization said. The man got his first visit from a consular employee more than a month after his arrest. He started a hunger strike last week.

Earlier this year, caretaker Justice Minister Dilan Yesilgoz confirmed that potentially dozens of ethnically diverse Dutch people’s details were shared with the EU and Interpol without there being any concrete suspicions against them. She said that they must take action themselves to get off those lists.

But according to Muslim Rights Watch, it is nearly impossible for people to get their names removed from terrorism watch lists, on which they ended up through no fault of their own. Over 100 people have reported to the organization for help with this. It currently has 30 procedures underway to try and get people off other countries’ terrorism lists.

The political party DENK asked parliamentary questions about this case at the end of August.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs told NOS it couldn’t comment on the matter at the moment.