The great-grandson of Theo van Gogh was killed by Islamic radicals

Police arrested eight more suspected &to= english.pravda.ru/hotspots/2001/10/24/18984.html ' target=_blank>Islamic radicals Wednesday in the slaying of a Dutch filmmaker who criticized Muslim customs. Lawmakers questioned why authorities hadn't kept tabs on the alleged killer, who had a record of violent crime and contacts with a group under surveillance. The arrests were made in the 24 hours since Theo van Gogh was slain while cycling down an Amsterdam street Tuesday - believed to be the first Islamic terrorist attack in the Netherlands. Six of the detainees are of Moroccan ancestry, one is Algerian and the last has dual Spanish-Moroccan nationality, prosecution spokeswoman Dop Kruimel said. The eight are in addition to the suspect arrested minutes after the slaying, a 26-year-old Amsterdam resident of Moroccan origin. Their &to= english.pravda.ru/world/2002/07/06/31924.html ' target=_blank>ethnic identities raised questions of links to the March 11 &to= english.pravda.ru/accidents/2002/05/20/28979.html ' target=_blank>train bombings that killed 191 people in Madrid, Spain. Twenty-nine suspects, mostly Moroccans, have been charged in those attacks; others arrested were of Algerian, Spanish, Tunisian and Egyptian origin. The Netherlands has arrested more than 40 terrorism suspects since the &to= english.pravda.ru/world/2002/06/05/29796.html ' target=_blank>Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on the United States, including many accused of providing logistical support for groups linked to al-Qaida. Muslim youths are thought to have been recruited here, and experts believe a number of cells in the Netherlands provide funding to foreign terrorist cells, informs the Guardian Unlimited. According to Reuters, the man suspected of killing a Dutch filmmaker critical of Islam was probably driven by extremist Islamist motives and was already known to the national security service, the government said on Wednesday. Director Theo van Gogh, who drew anger from Muslims with a film that said Islam encouraged violence against women but also managed to offend Jews and Christians with his blunt views, was shot and stabbed as he cycled to work on Tuesday morning. In a letter to parliament, Justice Minister Jan Hein Donner and Interior Minister Johan Remkes urged calm amid fears the killing could worsen Dutch race relations, tense since the murder of anti-immigration populist Pim Fortuyn in May 2002. The ministers said the arrested man had already come to the attention of the AIVD national security service, but was not among some 150 Islamic extremists the service is monitoring. "In light of what is known up to now we should seriously consider the fact that the perpetrator acted from a radical Islamic conviction," the ministers said. Dutch newspapers said the suspect had had contact with Samir Azzouz, an 18-year-old who was arrested in June on suspicion of planning attacks on key buildings in the Netherlands. Police declined to comment on that information or their investigation. Police in the &to= english.pravda.ru/world/2002/05/10/28481.html ' target=_blank>Netherlands have announced eight new arrests in the murder of controversial filmmaker Theo van Gogh, killed on a city street Tuesday. Authorities say that six of the detainees are from Morocco, one is from Algeria and one is a dual Spanish-Moroccan citizen. The suspect in the killing, arrested after a shootout with police, is of dual Moroccan and Dutch citizenship. A note left on van Gogh's body and another found on the 26-year-old suspect suggest that he is a follower of radical Muslim beliefs, Dutch prosecutor Leo de Wit told the press Wednesday, reports CBC News. Van Gogh, a frequent critic of Islam and other faiths, had received death threats following the August television broadcast of his film Submission, which criticizes the violent treatment of Muslim women. The filmmaker was the great-grandson of Theo van Gogh, brother of the famous Dutch painter, Vincent.

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