Piranha court case

On December 1, 2006, the District Court of Rotterdam, sitting in 'de Bunker' in Amsterdam Nieuw-West, convicted Samir Azzouz of preparing a terrorist attack and sentenced him to 8 years in prison. Nouriddin El Fahtni and Mohammed Chentouf were sentenced to 4 years in prison, Soumaya Sahla was sentenced to 3 years in prison and Brahim Harhour was sentenced to 3 months in prison. The Court ruled that the six individuals had not formed a terrorist organization.

The defendants lodged appeal with the Court of Appeal in The Hague.

On 2 October 2008 the Court of Appeal sentenced all suspects to higher sentences than those given by the District Court of Rotterdam: Samir Azzouz got 9 years in prison, Nouriddin El Fahtni got 8 years, Mohammed Chentouf got 6 years and Soumaya Sahla was sentenced to 4 years in prison.

Samir Azzouz was released on 6 September 2013. (On 31 August 2022 he [2] — and others[3] — was convicted again for helping Dutch IS women to escape from camps in Syria.[4] )

After the witnesses Lahbib B. and his wife Hanan S. had testified against the defendants in the Piranha case, they were prosecuted themselves.[5] They were charged with participating in a terrorist organization, the preparation of attacks and the possession of several firearms. The District Court of Rotterdam sentenced them to 3 years in prison. The Court of Appeal in The Hague reduced these sentences to 104 days (Lahbib B.) and 74 days (Hanan S.).

• Hofstad Network

• Dutch News (2006-11-06). "Prosecution winds up in Piranha court case". Dutch News. Retrieved 2023-01-13.

• Ministerie van Buitenlandse Zaken (2007-12-21). "Aanwijzing persoon jegens wie Sanctieregeling terrorisme 2007-II van toepassing is: Mohamed Chentouf". Staatscourant 2007, 248 pagina 7 (in Dutch). Retrieved 2023-01-06.

• Novum (2008-02-14). "Getuigen Piranha-zaak zelf vervolgd" (in Dutch). Trouw. Retrieved 2023-01-13.

• Rechtspraak (2022-08-31). "Tot 30 maanden cel voor illegale geldtransacties en financieren van terrorisme" (in Dutch). Retrieved 2023-01-13.

• Schuurman, Bart; Eijkman, Quirine; Bakker, Edwin (2014-06-08). "A History of the Hofstadgroup". Perspectives on Terrorism. 8 (4): 65–81. ISSN 2334-3745. JSTOR 26297197.