12 acquitted of terrorism charges
ROTTERDAM, Netherlands -- A Dutch court has acquitted 12 men accused of plotting suicide attacks against Western interests and recruiting for terrorist groups.
The court ruled there was no evidence to support allegations that the men belonged to a unspecified criminal organization which was thought to be providing support to al Qaeda and Taliban fighters in Afghanistan.
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The 12 men -- four Algerians, a Frenchman, a Moroccan, a Libyan, an Iraqi, an Egyptian, a Turk, a Mauritanian and a Dutch citizen -- were arrested last year in raids across the Netherlands.
All the defendants were ordered to be released, although two were convicted on lesser charges of possessing false passports and forgery.
Four of the men were released during the 3 1/2-week trial because they had already been in custody for a longer period than any jail sentence they would have received if convicted.
The trial was seen as a test of the Dutch justice system's handling of suspected terrorists and their organizations.
But the prosecution suffered numerous setbacks during the trial. For instance, some police evidence came from the Dutch intelligence services but the agency refused to reveal its classified information in court.
The intelligence "cannot be used as evidence to support the alleged facts because its origin and accuracy cannot be verified," the court found.
The judges also ruled dossiers compiled by the government were inadmissible because they relied on uncorroborated reports.
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Associated Press contributed to this report.
