The national ombudsman Reinier van Zutphen says he is concerned at the way people are being officially registered as having “extremist views” or “terrorist sympathies” even though this can have major consequences for the way they live their lives. 

People are often not aware that they have been labeled a risk under the CTER scheme, why they are listed and how they can be removed, the ombudsman said on Monday.  They may, for example, find they are unable to travel or get stuck abroad, as happened to one man in Spain last year. 

It took Spanish police two months to release the man from Tilburg Spain after he was taken from his hotel in Spain at the end of July while on his way to Morocco with his wife for a holiday. Spain said he was a risk to national security and was on a list banning him from entering the country. 

The ombudsman said he had had dozens of complaints from people who suspect they are on the register but who are given the run-around when they try to find out more. “This is unacceptable,” he said, adding that he has started an investigation.

The police can spread information about people on the CTER register with the security services, investigators and foreign countries and once in the system, it is very hard to get out. 

“As a citizen you must be able to count on the government treating information about you carefully,” he said. “Even if you are not aware of the information and who it is being shared with.” 

People included on the list should also be able to find out about their registration and to set right what is wrong, he said. “But that starts with knowing where you can go for help.” 

Investigative website Follow the Money reported on the problem last year, saying the register dates back to 2012 when thousands of radical youngsters left Europe for Syria to join jihadist movements such as IS.

Since then the police and security services have kept a register naming those who have left plus their family members and friends. The list also includes youngsters who were not radical but whom the police feared could get caught up in jihadist groups.

Justice minister Dilan Yesilgöz has admitted the list exists but said earlier it is up to the victims themselves to have their names removed.