A prosecutor asked a court in Rotterdam on Wednesday to impose an eight-year sentence on an interpreter accused of leaking information to suspected terrorists. Outman Ben A. was employed by the Dutch security service AIVD and transcribed tapped telephone conversations. He is accused of leaking details of the investigation into the Hofstadgroep to members of the group in 2004.The authorities say several young Dutch Muslims arrested on terrorist charges in recent years are members of the Hofstadgroep. Mohammed B., the man who shot and killed filmmaker Theo van Gogh, was said to be a member. Ben A. is also accused of sending an email to Said Bellari of the Dutch-Moroccan education group UMAH to warn that the phone of a person Bellari had been in contact with was bugged. Bellari is seen as a supporter of the legal Arab European League (AEL). The prosecution claimed that the information allegedly leaked by Ben A. was widely circulated among people viewed by the AIVD as suspects. The interpreter denies the charges.
| Nope. Wadn't me. Sumboddy else typed that stuff on my PC ... um ... an' used my voice on the phone an' all ... |