Dutch police shared potential jihadists details with American terrorism list
The Dutch police shared details of suspected jihadists and even potential jihadists with the American FBI for its controversial Terrorist Screening Database, Follow the Money reports based on a leaked portion of the database and information received from the police and Ministry of Justice and Security through an appeal to the Open Government Act.
Because the police also shared details of “potential” jihadists, there is a real chance that innocent Dutch citizens ended up on the American watch list simply because they visited family in Syria or Iraq, for example, FTM reported.
Having your name on the Terrorist Screening Database could mean that countries beyond the United States won’t allow you entry or grant you a visa because you are considered a public security risk. And it's often impossible to find out how your name ended up on the list, let alone get it removed, FTM said.
FTM spoke to one of the people on the watchlist in May. “Everyone says: we don’t know anything, we can’t see anything, and we can’t tell you,” they said. They have demonstrably never been suspected of terrorism but continually encounter problems at the border.
Last week, Justice Minister Dilan Yeşilgöz suddenly announced in a letter to parliament that during the handling of FTM’s Open Government Act request, she found out that “in the past, data from the LOP list of the police had been shared with the Terrorist Screening Center (TSC) of the FBI for the benefit of the Terrorist Screening Database (TSDB).” The LOP list is an overview of the National Police on people aged 12 or older who went to Syria or Iraq potentially to join the conflict there. It also includes names of people who possibly intended to go to the conflict area, people who may have helped others reach it, and possible recruiters.
Minister Yeşilgöz did not say whether all names from the LOP list were passed on to the FBI, but police employees told FTM that the police shared the complete list with the American authorities until 2018.
Exactly how many people are affected is unknown. In April 2018, there were almost 440 people on the LOP list, including 40 children. The police acknowledged to FTM that it could have happened that people’s names were put on the LOP list as a precaution, especially in the period when many went to join the conflict in Syria.
The consequences of ending up on the TSDB are not easy to reverse. It is virtually impossible for a Dutch citizen even to find out whether they’re on the watchlist, let alone appeal to get off it. The police can request the American authorities to remove names, but the requests aren’t always honored, FTM found.
