A 23-year-old man was Wednesday sentenced to 31 months in jail by a Dutch court.
The Hague, Netherlands:
A 23-year-old man was Wednesday sentenced to 31 months in jail by a Dutch court after he twice tried to join jihadist groups to fight alongside them in Syria.
The man, who was not named, had been caught once in 2014 and then again in 2015 trying to slip across the border from Turkey into Syria.
The court in The Hague imposed a sentence of 31 months with 12 months suspended for attempting to join a terror organisation involved in murder, manslaughter and arson.
The sentence was meant "to send a signal to deter others who may have similar plans," the court said in its judgement.
The Netherlands has warned it would crackdown on nationals seeking to join groups such as the so-called ISIS.
At least 280 Dutch citizens, a third of them women, have left The Netherlands to join the ISIS and other groups in Syria and Iraq.
About 45 have been killed and another 45 have recently returned, leaving 190 believed to be still on the ground.
Dutch prosecutors announced last week they have now opened investigations into the 190 nationals still fighting alongside jihadist groups in Iraq and Syria, with the first trial set to open next month.
"These people believe that they have said 'goodbye' to our judicial system. But we have not said 'goodbye' to them," said Ferry van Veghel, a spokesman for the prosecution service.
The man, who was not named, had been caught once in 2014 and then again in 2015 trying to slip across the border from Turkey into Syria.
The court in The Hague imposed a sentence of 31 months with 12 months suspended for attempting to join a terror organisation involved in murder, manslaughter and arson.
The sentence was meant "to send a signal to deter others who may have similar plans," the court said in its judgement.
The Netherlands has warned it would crackdown on nationals seeking to join groups such as the so-called ISIS.
At least 280 Dutch citizens, a third of them women, have left The Netherlands to join the ISIS and other groups in Syria and Iraq.
About 45 have been killed and another 45 have recently returned, leaving 190 believed to be still on the ground.
Dutch prosecutors announced last week they have now opened investigations into the 190 nationals still fighting alongside jihadist groups in Iraq and Syria, with the first trial set to open next month.
"These people believe that they have said 'goodbye' to our judicial system. But we have not said 'goodbye' to them," said Ferry van Veghel, a spokesman for the prosecution service.
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