The 22-year-old Palestinian Mahmoud A. has received a prison sentence of six months from the court in Amsterdam. He was convicted of open violence and an attempt at severe abuse during the riots last November, after the football match that Ajax played against the Israeli club Maccabi Tel Aviv.
According to the court, Mahmoud A. played a “substantial role” in the violence, which was taken into account in the penalty provision. As the most aggressive perpetrator of the group, he contributed to the fact that the violence continued, is in the verdict. On the Damrak in Amsterdam he worked, among other things, an Israeli football supporter against the ground and kicked him against the head a few times. A. was also suspected of attempted manslaughter, but the judge does not consider this proven.
His brother was killed by a bomb in Gaza, after which Mahmoud A. fled to the Netherlands via Greece
On November 7 and 8, supporters of the Israeli football club Maccabi Tel Aviv were attacked and abused in various places in Amsterdam. Several suspects were prosecuted and received a job or imprisonment ranging from one week to six months.
Mahmoud A. hung the highest punishment above the head: ten months in prison. On Tuesday, the judge considered him to be reduced, because a trauma disorder and weakness were established in the Palestinian.
Brain
The Palestinian Mahmoud A. was born and raised in a refugee camp in Khan Younis, in the south of the Gaza Strip. His family still lives there. After the death of his brother, who was hit by a bomb when he went to get medication for their disabled sister, Mahmoud A. fled to be able to support his family from elsewhere, wrote NRC earlier on the basis of the police interrogation.
Mahmoud A. ended up in the Netherlands via Greece, where he applied for asylum at the beginning of 2024. He collects cans and sends the proceeds from the deposit, via via, to his family.
On November 7, A. goes to a demonstration at the Arena during the Ajax-Maccabi match, after which he travels with the metro to Central Station. He wants to go back to Eindhoven by train, in that area he stays in an asylum seekers’ center, but he ends up on Dam Square. A. later stated to the police that a group of Israeli supporters brought down a Palestinian flag and sang in Hebrew: “Death to the Palestinians, dead to the children.”
The Palestinian experienced the situation as a “re -experience” of the violence he experienced in his home country is in the verdict. He panicked by the “threatening language and the violent action of the other group”. The court considers this plausible. According to the judge, the trauma can lead to a “primitive reaction from a survival position that was triggered in the brain.”
Context
The judgment states that the court has an eye “for the context in which the facts have taken place,” but also that it “offers no justification” for violence against Israeli supporters.
After the police published his photo, the Palestinian reported itself. He then spent almost four months in pre -trial detention. In addition to the prison sentence, A. also has to pay compensation of 2,000 euros to the Israeli victim.
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