Dutch Muslim Faces US Terror Trial

Tue, Dec 19, 2006 at 5:33:42 pm PST

A Dutch citizen who was involved in making jihad videos and preparing explosives for attacks on US troops in Iraq is going to be extradited to the US to stand trial.

THE HAGUE, Netherlands - A court on Tuesday rejected a last-ditch attempt to block the extradition of a Dutch citizen charged with terror attacks on American troops in his native Iraq in 2003.

Wesam al Delaema, 32, is set to become the first suspect tried in a U.S. court for alleged terrorism in Iraq’s bloody insurgency. If convicted, he faces a maximum sentence of life in prison.

Al Delaema says he is innocent. His attorneys have argued the U.S. does not have the right to try their client, that he could be tortured by U.S. authorities and that the American legal system cannot be trusted. ...

Evidence against al Delaema includes a videotape he filmed of a group called “Warriors of Fallujah” preparing a roadside bomb, which was widely shown on Arabic TV stations. The tape was seized by police who raided al Delaema’s house in Amersfoort in May 2005 following a tip from U.S. authorities.

Al Delaema argued he was forced to make the video after being kidnapped and beaten. He said he feared being beheaded if he resisted.

In a 2003 interview broadcast on Dutch television, al Delaema accused the U.S. and its allies of waging war in Iraq to control its oil reserves. “I don’t care if I myself die or not. I want to offer myself up for my land, for my people,” he said in the interview.

His family has said the interview was a joke.