Criminal Law As Ultimum Remedium Or Optimum Remedium? the Criminalisation of Preparatory Acts of Terrorism in the Netherlands
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Terrorism Trials: Criminal Law as Ultimum Remedium or Optimum Remedium? The Criminalisation of Preparatory Acts of Terrorism in the Netherlands Student: Jip Geenen Supervisor: Prof. Dr. De Goede Second Reader: Mw. Prof. Dr. M.E. Glasius June 2016 Master thesis Political Science: International Relations European Security Politics University of Amsterdam Contents Chapter 1: Introduction ........................................................................................................................... 1 Chapter 2: Conceptual framework .......................................................................................................... 4 Risk Management and Pre-emption .................................................................................................... 4 Risk and Law ...................................................................................................................................... 7 Law-making & Preparatory Acts ...................................................................................................... 10 Law-making in the Netherlands .................................................................................................... 10 Preparatory acts ............................................................................................................................. 11 Chapter 3: Research Design .................................................................................................................. 15 Data gathering and Case Selection .................................................................................................... 15 Data Gathering .............................................................................................................................. 15 Case Selection ............................................................................................................................... 15 Discourse analysis: operationalisation .............................................................................................. 18 Interviews .......................................................................................................................................... 21 Reflection .......................................................................................................................................... 22 Chapter 4: the Law-making Process ..................................................................................................... 24 Terrorism Act .................................................................................................................................... 24 Terrorism Training ............................................................................................................................ 29 Terrorism Financing .......................................................................................................................... 32 Concluding Remarks ......................................................................................................................... 33 Chapter 5: the Court Cases ................................................................................................................... 37 Shukri F. ............................................................................................................................................ 37 Context Case ..................................................................................................................................... 37 Adil C. ............................................................................................................................................... 38 Salim S. ............................................................................................................................................. 39 Controlling the risk ........................................................................................................................... 39 From ultimum remedium to optimum remedium ............................................................................... 44 Criminal law as an instrument .......................................................................................................... 47 Concerns & consequences ................................................................................................................ 48 Civil rights .................................................................................................................................... 49 Legal principles ............................................................................................................................. 51 Concluding Remarks ......................................................................................................................... 54 Chapter 6: Conclusion ........................................................................................................................... 58 Bibliography ......................................................................................................................................... 61 Appendix: Interviews ............................................................................................................................ 66 Chapter 1: Introduction Terrorism poses a challenge to the majority of governments throughout the world, therefore, how to address it has been a topic of heated debates for many years. Specifically, since the 9/11 attacks in the United States, terrorism has become one of the most pressing issues in (Western) countries. In recent years, due to a steady increase of foreign fighters either travelling or attempting to travel to Syria and/or Iraq to join the armed conflict, the problem has gained new momentum. Terrorism can be addressed in a variety of ways. Traditionally, a distinction can be made between repressive and preventive measures. In this respect, preventive measures focus on de-radicalisation and counter-radicalisation whereas repressive measures take the form of military or legal action (Reed e.a., 2015: 7). This thesis focuses on the role of the criminal justice in counter-terrorism. It is believed that, with current challenges such as foreign fighters, courts are increasingly becoming an arena where the fight against terrorism is taking place (De Goede & De Graaf, 2013). This is demonstrated by the outcry of Dutch politicians for a law enabling the detention and prosecution of returned foreign fighters for preventative reasons – without there being evidence that they will commit an attack or have committed offences while in Syria and/or Iraq (NRC, 2016). Terrorism legislation and terrorism trials focusing on preparatory acts have developed over the years – especially with the recent increase of foreign fighters, there are more cases focusing on these offences. Not only in the Netherlands, but also internationally the legal net has been cast wider to enable a broader set of instruments to assist the criminal justice sector in approaching terrorism. This is exemplified by the United Nations Security Council Resolution 2178, which focuses on the foreign fighter phenomenon. The Resolution concludes that member states should undertake steps in their domestic legal sphere to address the issue. Preparatory acts are those acts in preparation of a terrorist offence. This means people are not only prosecuted (and potentially sentenced) for fighting or committing an attack, but also for preparing to leave, facilitating someone’s travel to the conflict area or recruiting others to do so. These cases focus on preparation and the future consequences these actions can have, where no actual terrorist act has been committed (yet): the preparation becomes the criminal act. The laws criminalising preparatory acts make it possible to sentence individuals before they potentially commit an attack or join the armed conflict in the future. According to some scholars, this has led to increase of the precautionary principle in criminal law (De Goede & De Graaf, 2013; Ericson, 2008). According to these scholars, this could be a problematic development for the rule of law, as precaution could undermine 1 traditional legal principles such as legal certainty and a fair trial (Ericson, 2008; Amoore, 2008). Analysing and understanding the changes in legislation and the way these changes functions in court is relevant from both a societal and scientific perspective, because the rule of law and a just judiciary system are central aspects of democratic societies, such as the Netherlands. Therefore, researching these developments is important in order to grasp this process and its meaning for criminal justice. From a scientific perspective, this research is relevant as little research has been done on the law-making process of these preparatory acts in the Netherlands. This also applies to the study of terrorism trials since the foreign fighter phenomenon. Therefore, this thesis fills a gap in which both the law-making process and the approach of actors in court is researched in a recent selection of terrorism trials in the Netherlands. The timeframe that is specified in the central research question of this thesis starts after the adoption of the so-called ‘Integrale Aanpak Jihadisme’ in August 2014, translated here as Comprehensive Approach to Jihadism. As discussed more extensively in the Research Design (Chapter 3), this policy document can be taken as a starting point as it shows the emphasis the Dutch government placed on addressing the issues