For Public Figures in Netherlands, Terror Becomes a Personal Concern

The wave of political violence began in May 2002, when Pim Fortuyn, an anti-immigration populist and biting social critic, was assassinated by an animal rights activist. While the crime shocked the Dutch, many people dismissed it as a freak occurrence, not a sign of overheating in the passionate rhetoric and vigorous debate that the country has always cherished.

But those illusions disappeared with the van Gogh slaying. Afterward, Dutch intelligence and police agencies were criticized for not taking death threats seriously and doing more to protect controversial public figures.

Frank Bovenkerk, a criminologist at Utrecht University, released a study last month suggesting that the number of violent threats received by politicians and journalists had been skyrocketing for years, well before van Gogh's killing. He said Dutch police asked him to examine the issue because they had been swamped by reports from people who had received threatening e-mails and phone calls, and even bullets in the mail. His research showed that neighboring countries had not experienced a similar increase in threats. "There is something special going on in Holland that cannot simply be explained," he said.

Dutch investigators have traced many of the threats to a local network of young Muslim radicals that police and news media have dubbed the Hofstad Group. Authorities estimate that the network has about 30 followers, primarily Dutch-born teenagers and men in their twenties who are of Moroccan descent. Analysts and investigators said the network appears to be a home grown. Many of its members became radicalized in local mosques or by viewing extremist material on the Internet.

The most famous member is 19-year-old Samir Azzouz of Amsterdam, who was arrested last year after police said they found plans on his home computer to attack a nuclear installation. Azzouz was released after a judge ruled that there was not enough evidence to convict him. He was rearrested last month, along with six other suspects in three cities, as part of a continuing investigation.

Edwin Bakker, a senior policy analyst at the Netherlands Institute for International Relations in The Hague, said members of the Hofstad Group lacked the sophistication of other terrorist networks and had little or no experience as fighters in Afghanistan, Chechnya or Iraq. But he said they were still dangerous.

"Samir Azzouz is not a professional, but he is a threat," Bakker said. "In this way, these kids with the Hofstad group are very much a product of the Netherlands. I think about half of them are in it for the thrill."

Dutch investigators warn against underestimating the group. One of its founders was Mohammed Bouyeri, the 27-year-old who confessed to killing van Gogh and said he wouldn't hesitate to do it again.

When Bouyeri was sentenced in July, he waved a copy of the Koran in the courtroom and told the judge: "The law compels me to chop off the head of anyone who insults Allah and the prophet."

Dutch counterterrorism officials have said 10 to 15 other less-publicized networks of Islamic militants are active in the country.