Witness threatened after speaking in foreign influence on mosques investigation

Hajer Harzi, a board member of the Al Houda mosque in Geleen, received serious threats after she spoke to a parliamentary committee investigating the possible influence of extremist ideology from abroad on Dutch mosques. "You wouldn't wish that on anyone," Harzi said on talk show Op 1. She reported the threats to the police.

Her daughter started receiving threatening videos shortly after she spoke to the parliamentary committee, Harzi said. In the videos, Harzi was called a heretic, Jew and all kinds of "terrible things", she said. "My daughter is angry and says she can't take it anymore. I had to convince her that it was directed against me and not against her."

Harzi was also insulted on social media due to her testimony. 

The Tweede Kamer, the lower house of Dutch parliament, launched this investigation after NRC and Nieuwsuur reported that at least 30 Islamic organizations in the Netherlands receive funding from conservative Gulf states like Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. 

Earlier this month a group of Islamic organizations asked the Tweede Kamer to not focus only on mosques in their investigation, but also look into foreign money flows to political parties, churches and synagogues