Rudaw in English....The Happening: Latest News and Multimedia about Kurdistan, Iraq and the World: Kurdish Poet Murdered In Netherlands

Kurdish Poet Murdered In Netherlands
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RUDAW on 20/04/2011 03:39:00
 
In 2005, after escaping a terrorist attack in Syria, Nadim Yousif fled to the
Netherlands. Six years later, he was “accidentally” murdered.
Nadim, 42, lived in Alphen aan den Rijn with his two children (Mazlum, 17 and
Hanef, 6). On April 12th, Nadim was shopping for groceries when a young Dutch
man opened fire into the crowd, killing six people and injuring seventeen. One
of the victims was Nadim.
Nadim, a poet and political activist, was born in Efren in Syrian Kurdistan in
1969. In 2005, he narrowly escaped being killed when a bomb exploded near him.
Badly injured, he packed his bags and fled to Lebanon, where he was granted
residency by the Dutch embassy as a political refugee.
A Syrian Plan
Nadim had published four books of poetry in Kurdish and Arabic, and was busy
with his writing in the Netherlands.
“His injures never healed. He had to be treated continually,” said a close
friend of Nadim who wished to remain anonymous. “The Ba’athists didn’t let
him live and killed him.”
Nadim’s friend added that, immediately following his death there was a lot of
speculation about the murder among the Kurdish community in the Netherland.
“Some people tried to connect [Nadim’s murder] with the current political
situation in Syria, and thought Syrian intelligence had started a killing
campaign against Kurdish activists based in Europe,” said Nadim’s friend.
It was, however, confirmed by Dutch authorities that the murderer was a Dutch
national, and that Nadim was killed as result of a “calamity” shooting.
According to Nadim’s friend, the poet was supposed to go to Brussels along
with other Syrian activists for talks with members of the European Commission
and European parliament.
Another friend, Kawa Rashid, who lives in the Netherlands, said, “The
delegation will not include Nadim now. It’s a great loss.”
Eye witnesses said that the young murderer who was dressed in military trousers
continued shooting until he reached his last bullet, which he used then on
himself.
Rudaw spoke with Alphen aan den Rijn’s spokesperson for the case, who said,
“The murderer of Nadim and the other victims was a Dutch man named Tristan
Vanderv. He was a member of a shooting club and had a gun license.
“We still don’t know why Tristan did this, even though he left two letters
behind. It’s not clear why he has done it.” said the spokesperson.
Media spotlight
Dutch media has reacted sadly to the case. The Dutch queen and prime minister
sent their condolences to the victims’ families and acknowledged that the
event as a “tragedy” for Dutch society. They asked the authorities to
investigate the matter.
An eyewitness of the shooting, Anna Mary Da Brown, 82, told Radio Netherlands
Worldwide, “the first thing that came to my mind was to run. I even left my
grocery bag.”
Another man, who lives near where the shooting took place, had seen the young
man shoot the bystanders then himself.