Dutch authorities to make visiting terrorist-dominated areas a crime in itself

People who travel to areas ‘dominated by terrorists’ could face a jail term of up to one year if they do not have official permission to be there, if an amendment to the current penal code is passed by parliament. Journalists and aid workers will be free from such a requirement but everyone else will have to make a digital request for permission first, when the amendment, introduced by justice minister Ferd Grapperhaus, comes into force.

Current jurisprudence makes it clear that people who stay in terrorist-dominated parts of Iraq or Syria are supporting terrorist organisations, the minister says. The aim of this legislation is to allow the public prosecution department to tackle people who return from other areas which may have become terrorist controlled, before jurisprudence has been built up.

This is because they could be a danger to the Netherlands on their return, the minister said. The draft legislation has been submitted to the Council of State, the public prosecution department and the council for the judiciary for its opinion.

Source: Dutch News