The police judge in Amsterdam sentenced Geert Dales (74) on Wednesday to eighty hours of community service, of which forty hours are conditional, for insult, defamation and doxing (collecting or sharing someone’s data to intimidate that person). The Public Prosecution Service had demanded the same sentence.
The judge considers it proven that the former Amsterdam councilor scolded a taxi driver in the capital in November 2024 as “a shitty Moroccan and a dirty Muslim”. The judge spoke of “annoying facts, with unpleasant messages on social media with unpleasant words”, aimed at “scaring, intimidating and belittling”, writes the ANP news agency. Dales denies that he expressed himself in a discriminatory manner, thus Het Parool.
The shouting match started at the taxi rank of Sloterdijk station. Dales stated that he returned from Zandvoort too late to catch the bus and therefore had to rely on a taxi. At the scene he allegedly saw a taxi driver being annoying with two women, after which he confronted the man.
According to the taxi driver, Dales also said: “You hate gays, you don’t know who I am.” The former politician spoke of “violence”, after which he called the police. Officers took him home, writes Het Parool.
That same night and the next morning, Dales posted messages on X, speaking of “Muslim terrorists.” The former politician said he “shouldn’t have chosen a taxi with a Muslim.” Dales also included a photo of the taxi driver and the taxi and included his license plate number. Doxing, according to the judge.
On X, Dales wished the taxi driver “good luck in his further career.” “I think this establishes that your aim was to hinder him in his work,” the judge ruled, according to Het Parool.
North-South line
In a comment on X Dales wrote on Wednesday that he would appeal. “It’s a shame about everyone’s time, but that’s the way it is. It’s also a shame about the costs, because this isn’t free. I’m considering crowdfunding.”
Amsterdam residents mainly know Dales as the alderman who was responsible for the North-South line between 2000 and 2004, which cost millions more than budgeted. Afterwards he was mayor of Leeuwarden and chairman of the board of InHolland University of Applied Sciences, where he left in 2007 after an argument.
Geert Dales was considered a prominent VVD figure at the time, but left that party in 2016 because he felt there was too little room for debate. Afterwards he joined 50Plus, where he left after an argument. He later became active as a list leader in Amsterdam for BVNL, the party of ex-FVD member Wybren van Haga. Last year, both Van Haga and Dales quit that party.