Van Gogh Murder Act of Terrorism

The Islamic radical accused of killing Dutch filmmaker Theo van Gogh [story here], THEN slitting his throat before leaving two knives in his body, one pinning a note to his chest (symbolism is everything to these sick scum – note beheadings in Iraq), will be tried as a terrorist, putting to rest any notions that this was anything but an overt political act against freedom of expression: criticize any aspect of Islamic culture – die.

How much more of this kind of blatant intimidation will be tolerated by the West? How many more leftists will cry out for “tolerance” and “understanding” of these brutal fascistic killers and counsel against offending them?

Chief Amsterdam prosecutor Leo de Wit said the suspect, Mohammed [Bouyeri] will face five counts, including murder and “participating in a criminal organisation with terrorist characteristics.”

Justice Minister Piet Hein Donner said the letter was “a direct warning” to MP Ayaan Hirsi Ali, who wrote the film script, and several prominent political figures, including Amsterdam Mayor Job Cohen.

The suspect, a 26-year-old with dual Dutch and Moroccan citizenship and “radical Islamic fundamentalist convictions,” is to be arraigned today. Other terrorism-related charges in his indictment include attempted murder of a police officer, attempted murder of a bystander, illegal possession of a firearm and conspiring to murder Van Gogh and Dutch member of parliament Ayaan Hirsi Ali.

Authorities have arrested eight other suspects in connection with Van Gogh’s murder – six of the detainees are of Moroccan ancestry, one is Algerian and the last has dual Spanish-Moroccan nationality, prosecution spokeswoman Dop Kruimel said:

Their ethnic identities raised questions of links to the March 11 train bombings that killed 191 people in Madrid, Spain. Twenty-nine suspects, mostly Moroccans, have been charged in those attacks; others arrested were of Algerian, Spanish, Tunisian and Egyptian origin.

The Netherlands has arrested more than 40 terrorism suspects since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States, including many accused of providing logistical support for groups linked to al Qaeda. Muslim youths are thought to have been recruited here, and experts think several cells in the Netherlands provide funding to foreign terrorist cells.

….Kruimel said five of the suspects, whose identities were not released, were detained and released during an October 2003 investigation into a potential terrorist threat. [AP]

And how about the Muslim “street”?

Shortly after Van Gogh’s murder on Tuesday, spray can and graffiti artist Donovan Spaanstra, 33, painted a portrait of the Dutch television celebrity and columnist on the façade of a building in the Warmoesstraat.

“For an artist, from an artist. Van Gogh has walked past here thousands of times,” Spaanstra told newspaper De Telegraaf.

Initially greeted by applause for painting the portrait, Spaanstra claimed some Moroccan teens then hassled him, screaming “Hamas, Hamas”. He claimed they even spat on the portrait and did not want to discuss the killing.

….Immigrant groups in the Netherlands — the Municipal Moroccan Council (SMR) and the Turkish Cultural Federation — have forthrightly condemned the assassination. [Expatica]

More from the Arab European League (AEL):

The Belgian-Dutch AEL issued a statement on Tuesday night condemning Van Gogh’s murder. Previous statements by the organisation — which says it supports the integration, but not assimilation of Arabs and Muslims into western societies — have caused widespread offence. The AEL recently said that the death of every Dutch soldier in Iraq was a victory.
[Dutch AEL chairman Nabil] Marmouch said only the person responsible for Van Gogh’s death was the person who shot him. He also claimed Van Gogh was bent on offending people and that his death had nothing to do with free speech. [Expatica]

It would appear that has not turned out to be true, has it Mr. Marmouch? The Dutch government has it right: this was an act of Islamic terror meant to intimidate and stifle speech, speech that would dare to criticize any aspect of Islam. This is the Rushdie fatwa carried out in 2004.

The website of the Van Gogh’s work in progress, 0605, about the murder of Pim Fortuyn (in Dutch) is here.