Page 8 - aruba-today-20170223

A8 WORLD NEWS
Thursday 23 February 2017

Wilders’ security officer detained for suspected data leak

MIKE CORDER Dennis Janus said. The DBB
Associated Press is responsible for security
THE HAGUE, Netherlands around top politicians, the
(AP) — A Dutch security Dutch royal family and dip-
official responsible for pro- lomats based in the Neth-
tecting anti-Islam lawmak- erlands.
er Geert Wilders has been Dutch media reported, cit-
detained on suspicion of ing unnamed sources, that
leaking classified informa- the suspect detained Mon-
tion, a police spokesman day is a police officer with
said Wednesday, sparking a Moroccan background
fears for the safety of the who had passed on infor-
far-right populist lawmak- mation to a Dutch-Moroc-
er who for years has lived can criminal organization.
amid tight security. The story first appeared on
The extent of the breach the website www.NRC.nl .
and whether it has had any In an interview with BNR
effect on the tight security Nieuwsradio, National Po-
cordon that constantly sur- lice Chief Erik Akerboom
rounds Wilders was not im- confirmed that the suspect
mediately clear, but the was of Moroccan descent.
leader of the populist Party Wilders was convicted last
for Freedom reacted an- year for anti-Moroccan
grily on Twitter. comments and while cam-
“If I can’t blindly trust the paigning just last weekend
service (DBB) that has to Firebrand lawmaker Geert Wilders, center, with his characteristic peroxide blond hair, talks to referred to “Moroccan
protect me, I can no lon- media during his election campaign stop in Spijkenisse, near Rotterdam, Netherlands Saturday scum” who commit crimes
ger function. This is unac- Feb. 18, 2017. Now, as a March 15 parliamentary election looms, the political mood is turning in- in the Netherlands.
ceptable,” Wilders said in ward as Wilders dominates polls with an isolationist manifesto that calls for the Netherlands “to be The revelations came three
independent again. So out of the EU.”
a tweet directed at Dutch (AP Photo/Peter Dejong) weeks before the Nether-
Prime Minister Mark Rutte. lands holds its March 15
Wilders has lived for more tion and in anonymous safe An officer from the DBB se- “sharing classified police parliamentary election.
than a decade under houses following death curity team was detained information in the private Wilders’ party is riding high
around-the-clock protec- threats. Monday on suspicion of sphere,” police spokesman in the polls, although main-
stream parties have said
they will not form a co-
Iraqi suicide bomber was British ex-Gitmo detainee alition with him if he wins
the popular vote because
of his hard-line anti-Islam
PAISLEY DODDS two British security officials dition of anonymity be- detained at gunpoint near stance. His manifesto in-
DANICA KIRKA also confirmed the man cause of the sensitivity of the border with Afghani- cludes closing Dutch bor-
Associated Press was a 50-year-old Briton the issue. stan and turned over to the ders to all migrants from
LONDON (AP) — A suicide formerly known as Ron- Al-Harith was a web de- Taliban, which charged Muslim nations, banning
bomber who attacked a ald Fiddler and as Jamal signer and convert to Is- him with being a British spy, the Quran and shutting
military base in Iraq this al-Harith. He was one of lam when he set off on a beat him and threw him all mosques in the Nether-
week was a former Guan- 16 men paid a total of 10 visit to a religious retreat in in jail. A couple of months lands.
tanamo Bay detainee million pounds (now worth Pakistan in October 2001. later he was liberated by Akerboom told BNR that
freed in 2004 after Britain $12.4 million) in compensa- He says he was warned the the Northern Alliance and an investigation was seek-
lobbied for his release, rais- tion in 2010, when the British country was not safe due allowed to call home. He ing to establish what infor-
ing questions about the government settled a law- to deep anti-British and told his family he would be mation was leaked, but
ability of security services to suit alleging its intelligence American sentiment in the back soon, but instead was said that so far he did not
track the whereabouts of agencies were complicit in days before the U.S. attack turned over to the Ameri- believe that Wilders’ safety
potential terrorists. the torture of prisoners at on Afghanistan, and de- cans and sent to Guanta- had been compromised.
The Islamic State group Guantanamo Bay, accord- cided to return to Europe namo Bay. Like many oth- He said the suspect was not
identified the bomber as ing to the officials. by land via Iran and Turkey. ers, he claims he was tor- part of the “inner circle” re-
Abu Zakariya al-Britani, and The officials spoke on con- Instead, he said he was tured there.q sponsible for Wilders.q