A Dutch appeals court has upheld the terror conviction of an asylum-seeker who stabbed and seriously injured two American tourists at Amsterdam's main railway station in August 2018.
ADVERTISEMENTA Dutch appeals court has upheld the terror conviction of an asylum-seeker who stabbed two people at Amsterdam's main railway station two years ago.
Two American tourists were seriously injured in the stabbings on August 31, 2018.
The suspect, an Afghan national, was shot by police officers within 10 seconds of the attack.
"The appeals court calls it a cowardly attack,'' it said in a statement, adding that "it is thanks to the very fast response of the police that there weren't more victims."
But judges have slightly reduced the sentence of the attacker from nearly 27 years to 25 years based on sentences in similar cases and on his young age.
The man, who is now 21, was convicted in 2019 of attempted murder with a terrorist motive.
The court said he took a train from Germany to the Dutch capital to avenge what he perceived as insults to Islam and did not know his victims were Americans.
The attacker is said to have only expressed remorse during his appeals case, but judges were unconvinced by his sincerity and "saw it as a way to reduce his sentence".
The two American victims were able to follow the appeals hearing via a video link.
The attacker was ordered to pay them a total of nearly €3 million euros in damages.