Search results

Mr. Hersi was a naturalized Canadian citizen from Somalia living in Toronto. A drycleaner found a USB in Hersi’s security guard uniform containing suspicious documents, such as instructions on how to make explosives as well as various Islamic religious writings. The drycleaner notified the police, and the police investigated Mr. Hersi further using an undercover officer. During these meetings with the undercover officer, Mr. Hersi explained his well-developed plan to join the terrorist organisation Al-Shabaab and suggested that the UC also join.

The Court found Mr. Hersi guilty of (1) attempting to participate in the activities of Al-Shabaab and (2) counselling an undercover officer to participate in Al-Shabaab. The Court then sentenced Mr. Hersi to 10 years in prison, the maximum of 5 years for each of his offenses. Additionally, the Court held that Mr. Hersi be required to serve at least one-half his sentence, as opposed to the typical requirement of one-third of a sentence, before he could be released on parole, given the gravity of the offence and the unlikelihood of Hersi’s rehabilitation.

Maher H.’s case is the first conviction in the Netherlands of a Dutch ‘foreign fighter’ returning from Syria. He was convicted on 1 December 2014 and sentenced to three years’ imprisonment by the District Court in The Hague. Although it was not exactly clear what Maher H. had done in Syria, the Court found enough evidence to determine, among other things, that he was guilty of preparing to commit terrorist crimes, including murder and manslaughter. The Court based its decision on the fact that he had actually been to Syria and participated in the armed conflict there as well as his support for the jihad. Factors such as Maher H.’s decision to join a jihadi armed group in Syria that aimed to destroy Syria’s political structure and establish an Islamic State were also considered relevant in showing his terrorist intent. The Court moreover convicted Maher H. of disseminating inciting videos, pictures and a document. However, he was acquitted of conspiring to commit a terrorist offence due to a lack of evidence. This decision was subsequently appealed by the defendant. 

In May 2016, the Dutch Supreme Court dismissed the appeal against the Court of Appeal’s judgment in the case of Omar H, a foreign fighter convicted of training for terrorism. In upholding the Court of Appeal’s judgment, the Supreme Court decided that training for terrorism in this context would be interpreted broadly. Thus, researching how to make bombs online, and buying items to make explosive devices in light of Omar H’s other interests in jihad and travel to Syria were sufficient to prove he had trained himself to commit a terrorist crime. In dismissing the appeal, the Supreme Court also confirmed Omar H’s sentence of 18 months’ imprisonment. 

Callixte Kalimanzira was the directeur de cabinet in the Ministry of Interior, the ministry’s second most senior official, from September 1992 through the relevant events of 1994. On 22 June 2009, Trial Chamber III of the ICTR found Kalimanzira guilty of instigating and aiding and abetting genocide at the roadblock on Butare-Gisagara road around 22 April 1994, at Kabuye hill on 23 April 1994 and at the inauguration of Élie Ndayambaje as mayor of Muganza Community on 22 June 1994. In addition, Kalimanzira was convicted for committing direct and public incitement to commit genocide in Butare prefecture. He was sentenced to 30 years of imprisonment.

Both the Accused and the Prosecution filed an appeal against the Trial judgment. On 20 October 2010, the Appeals Chamber affirmed the conviction for aiding and abetting genocide at Kabuye hill but overthrew the remaining convictions after finding several factual and legal errors in the Trial Chamber’s assessment. The Chamber dismissed the Prosecution’s appeal in its entirety and reduced Kalimanzira's sentence from 30 years to 25 years of imprisonment.  

On 15 July 2015, German foreign fighter Harun P was convicted of membership in a foreign terrorist organisation and attempted murder in relation to his time in Syria in 2013 and 2014. Harun P had travelled to Syria in 2013 and joined the terrorist group Junud al-Sham. Subsequently, he confessed to participating in a large scale attack on a prison in Aleppo and to firing a mortar blindly into a populated industrial area in Syria. Since his return, he has distanced himself from his former views and cooperated significantly with the police. Harun P was ultimately sentenced to 11 years’ imprisonment.