Dutch court orders review of data access denial in case of journalist on US terror list

A Dutch court has ordered the minister of Foreign Affairs and the national police chief to better justify why a Dutch-Palestinian journalist was denied full access to personal data held about him, in a case tied to his reported inclusion in a U.S. terrorism database.

The ruling, issued by the court in Haarlem, requires both officials to reconsider the access request submitted by photographer and documentary filmmaker Sakir Khader, who has sought full disclosure of information stored about him by Dutch authorities.

Khader says he faces serious obstacles while traveling for work in Syria, Turkey and other countries in the Middle East. Investigative platform Follow the Money previously reported that his name appears in the FBI’s Terrorist Screening Database.

Khader suspects that his name or other personal data may have been wrongly shared by Dutch authorities with the United States. However, he has not been granted full access to the records held about him.

The court found that the overview of disclosed documents was insufficiently clear and that the explanations provided by both the minister and the police chief lacked specific justification.

The minister argued that full disclosure could not be granted because it might harm the confidentiality of diplomatic communications between countries. According to the minister, such disclosure “could lead to Turkey or other countries being less willing in the future to share relevant information with the ministry.”