Netherlands

08 Dec 2022; MEMO: Islamic organisations in the Netherlands have criticised a draft decision that would impose censorship on Quran institutes in the country.

The draft resolution was submitted by the Minister of Education, Dennis Wiersma, last month, and would allow the imposition of censorship over educational institutions that are not affiliated with the ministry and are not funded by it, including institutes for memorising the Quran in mosques.

06 Dec 2022; MEMO: The Palestinian Authority (PA) has provided the International Criminal Court (ICC) a file on Israel's crimes against Palestinian children, Minister of Foreign Affairs Riyad Al-Maliki said yesterday.

AMSTERDAM, Nov 17 (Reuters) - A Dutch court on Thursday handed down life long jail sentences to three suspects it convicted of murder for their role in shooting down Malaysia Airlines passenger flight MH17 over Ukraine in 2014.

The convicted men, two Russian former intelligence officers and a Ukrainian separatist leader, were also ordered to pay at least 16 million euros ($16.5 million) in compensation to relatives of the victims.

The men remain fugitives. They are all believed to be in Russia, which will not extradite them.

AMSTERDAM, Nov 17 (Reuters) - Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 was shot down in 2014 by a Russian-made missile fired from a field in eastern Ukraine, the Dutch court handling the trial of four suspects in the downing of the plane said on Thursday.

"The court is of the opinion that MH17 was brought down by the firing of a BUK missile from a farm field near Pervomaisk, killing al 283 passengers and 15 crew members," presiding judge Hendrik Steenhuis said.

SCHIPHOL, Netherlands (AP) — Relatives of those killed when Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 was shot down over eastern Ukraine in 2014 gathered at a Dutch courtroom Thursday before the verdicts in the trial of three Russians and a Ukrainian charged in the aviation disaster.

AMSTERDAM, Nov 5 (Reuters) - Hundreds of environmental activists wearing white overalls stormed an area holding private jets at Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport and stopped aircraft from leaving for hours by sitting in front of their wheels on Saturday.

Military police moved in and were seen taking dozens of the protesters away in buses. More than 100 activists were arrested, national broadcaster NOS reported.

02 Nov 2022; MEMO: The Netherlands has announced its plans to repatriate 12 women and 28 children back to their home country, in the latest move by a European State to do so.

According to a statement by the Dutch government yesterday, the women – who are suspected of committing terror offences due to their travel to join Daesh – "will be arrested after their arrival in the Netherlands and will be tried". Neither the identity of the women, the children, nor their location were revealed.

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — Two Belgian activists who targeted Johannes Vermeer’s “Girl with a Pearl Earring” painting in a climate protest last week were sentenced Wednesday to two months in prison, with prosecutors saying their action “crossed a line” of acceptable protest.

Half of the sentence was suspended by a judge in The Hague, meaning the men will serve one month. A third suspect is due in court Friday. Their identities were not released, in line with Dutch privacy rules.

01 Nov 2022; MEMO: A senior Israeli army officer should be investigated by the International Criminal Court for war crimes and crimes against humanity, an NGO has demanded. Democracy for the Arab World Now (DAWN) said that the Israel Defence Forces' former West Bank legal adviser, Eyal Toledano, "was responsible for the legal planning and approval of all IDF policies that violate international humanitarian law."

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — China has reportedly established dozens of “overseas police stations” in nations around the world that activists fear could be used to track and harass dissidents as part of Beijing’s crackdown on corruption.

Information about the outposts underscored concerns about the ruling Chinese Communist Party’s influence over its citizens abroad, sometimes in ways deemed illegal by other countries, as well as the undermining of democratic institutions and the the theft of economic and political secrets by bodies affiliated with the one-party state.