The Syrian Aziz A, also known as the ‘Bar Syrian’, has been sentenced by the court in Rotterdam to 15 years and 9 months in prison. He was found guilty of, among other things, participating in a terrorist organization. Aziz Z. held a high position in the terrorist organization Jabhat al-Nusra between 2011 and 2014.
The sentence is much lower than the 23 years demanded by the public prosecutor. The court took into account that the man had been imprisoned in Syria and was tortured there. According to A.’s lawyer, his client will appeal against the ruling.
Aziz A. came to the Netherlands and started a new life in Amsterdam. In 2017 he was seen in De Balie debate center in Amsterdam, where he was recognized by bystanders as a jihadist fighter. A. was present at the screening of a documentary about the Syrian city of Raqqa in the Amsterdam debate center.
Journalist
A. himself said earlier that “the matter has been made bigger”. Aziz says he attended the meeting on the advice of the AIVD, for which he would have been an informant.
Aziz A. is also the ex-boyfriend of Dutch journalist Ans Boersma, who was deported from Turkey in 2019 because of her connection with the suspect. Last June, the court in Rotterdam ruled that Boersma lied about a visa application for A.
Boersma was not punished for this, because of the damage she suffered as a result of the case. As a result of the case, she lost her correspondentship in Turkey. It was also taken into account that Boersma had never been convicted of criminal offences before.
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