Netherlands condones biker gangs fighting IS
The government says it's no longer forbidden for gang members to join a foreign armed force.
No Surrender group in Iraq »
Netherlands says OK for biker gangs to fight Islamic State
11 hours ago
Members of the 'No Surrender' biker gang are fighting against Islamic State militants in northern Iraq (AFP Photo/Olaf Kraak)
The Hague (AFP) - The Dutch public prosecutor said on Tuesday
that motorbike gang members who have reportedly joined Kurds battling
the Islamic State group in Iraq are not necessarily committing any
crime.
"Joining a foreign armed force was previously
punishable, now it's no longer forbidden," public prosecutor spokesman
Wim de Bruin told AFP.
"You just can't join a fight against the Netherlands," he told AFP after reports emerged that Dutch bikers from the No Surrender gang were fighting IS insurgents alongside Kurds in northern Iraq.
The head of No Surrender, Klaas Otto, told state broadcaster NOS that three members who travelled to near Mosul in northern Iraq were from Dutch cities Amsterdam, Rotterdam and Breda.
A photograph on a Dutch-Kurdish Twitter account shows a tattooed Dutchman called Ron in military garb, holding a Kalashnikov assault rifle while sat with a Kurdish comrade.
Video footage apparently from a Kurdish broadcaster shows an armed European man with Kurdish fighters saying in Dutch: "The Kurds have been under pressure for a long time."
Many countries including the Netherlands have been clamping down on their nationals trying to join IS jihadists who have taken over swathes of Iraq and Syria.
Measures include confiscating would-be jihadists' passports before travelling and threatening prosecution should they return.
"You just can't join a fight against the Netherlands," he told AFP after reports emerged that Dutch bikers from the No Surrender gang were fighting IS insurgents alongside Kurds in northern Iraq.
The head of No Surrender, Klaas Otto, told state broadcaster NOS that three members who travelled to near Mosul in northern Iraq were from Dutch cities Amsterdam, Rotterdam and Breda.
A photograph on a Dutch-Kurdish Twitter account shows a tattooed Dutchman called Ron in military garb, holding a Kalashnikov assault rifle while sat with a Kurdish comrade.
Video footage apparently from a Kurdish broadcaster shows an armed European man with Kurdish fighters saying in Dutch: "The Kurds have been under pressure for a long time."
Many countries including the Netherlands have been clamping down on their nationals trying to join IS jihadists who have taken over swathes of Iraq and Syria.
Measures include confiscating would-be jihadists' passports before travelling and threatening prosecution should they return.
"The big difference with IS is that it's listed as a terrorist group," said De Bruin.
"That means that even preparing to join IS is punishable."
Dutch
citizens could not however join the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), as
it is blacklisted as a terrorist organisation by Ankara and much of the
international community, De Bruin said.
Dutch
citizens fighting on the Kurdish side would of course be liable to
prosecution if they committed crimes such as torture or rape, De Bruin
said.
"But this is also happening a long way away and so it'll be very difficult to prove," said De Bruin.
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