Dutch Women’s Safety And Immigration Debate Intensifies After Amsterdam Killing (Worthy News In-Depth)

by Stefan J. Bos, Worthy News Chief International Correspondent

AMSTERDAM (Worthy News) – A debate over women’s safety and immigration has intensified in the Netherlands after a 29-year-old Amsterdam woman was found dead in a suitcase along the Amstel River, with a Somali-born man suspected of killing her.

The victim, identified as Hajar, was killed on October 4, the same day she reportedly sent a desperate message to a relative pleading for help. Her body was discovered on October 16 along the Amsteldijk, a road beside Amsterdam’s Amstel River.

“Help me. Now. He is killing me,” she reportedly wrote at around 11:15 a.m. Prosecutors confirmed Friday that she was killed in the early afternoon, raising questions about the response to warnings received by police.

The suspect, identified under Dutch privacy rules as 23-year-old Abdi A., has lived legally in the Netherlands since the age of six. He was arrested on October 20 and faces allegations of murder or manslaughter, concealing Hajar’s body, and separate violent offenses involving his former foster father and another woman.

The killing has revived memories of the murder of 17-year-old Lisa, who was attacked while cycling home near Amsterdam in August 2025. A Nigerian asylum seeker was subsequently arrested in connection with her death, which sparked nationwide protests and campaigns demanding greater protection for women.

OTHER KILLINGS SHOCK NATION

Earlier, another case that shocked the Netherlands involved 18-year-old Ryan al-Najjar, a Syrian woman whose bound body was found in water near Lelystad in May 2024. In January 2026, a Dutch court sentenced her father to 30 years in prison and her two brothers to 20 years each for her murder, which prosecutors linked to the family’s objections to her increasingly Western lifestyle.

Her father, who fled to Syria, was convicted in absentia. The convictions have since been appealed.

Following this month’s murder, Amsterdam Mayor Femke Halsema expressed condolences to Hajar’s relatives, acknowledging that the killing had revived fears after Lisa’s death.

“It is just 14 months since we had to inform you about the dreadful murder of a 17-year-old girl,” she said. “The fear, anger and outrage that arose in our society have not yet subsided.”

Halsema, a former leader of the left-wing GroenLinks (GreenLeft) party, urged restraint in drawing conclusions about the suspect’s background, saying violence against women was a longstanding problem affecting all sections of Dutch society.

MAYOR FACES QUESTIONS

But the mayor has faced questions about when she learned of the desperate messages Hajar sent before her death and how authorities handled the initial missing-person report. Halsema later acknowledged that she had been informed about the messages before an earlier police press conference but had not disclosed their existence publicly at the time.

Police confirmed that Hajar’s family reported her missing at approximately 8:15 p.m. on October 4, but her disappearance was initially classified as non-urgent. It was upgraded the following evening. Prosecutors said she had probably died before police received the messages.

The killings have fueled further disagreements between Dutch political parties over the role of immigration in violence against women.

Geert Wilders, leader of the anti-immigration Party for Freedom (PVV), has called for the deportation of foreign criminals, while Forum for Democracy (FVD) politician Gideon van Meijeren previously blamed mass immigration for Lisa’s killing.

Wilders has warned that the growing influence of Islam and non-Western cultures threatens Dutch society, particularly the rights and safety of women.

POLITICAL DIVISIONS DEEPEN

Preliminary findings from Leiden University’s Femicide Monitor indicate that approximately half of suspected perpetrators of killings of women have a migration background.

Still, Marieke Liem, a professor of Security and Interventions at Leiden University who leads the research, played down the significance of migration background in the findings. She argued that it was not an independent predictor when factors including income, education, health and previous contact with authorities were considered.

Yet supporters of stricter immigration policies argue that the findings reinforce their concerns that large-scale, insufficiently controlled immigration poses growing risks to Dutch society, especially for women and girls.

Concerns about women’s safety extend beyond killings.

Take Stek Oost, an Amsterdam housing project where Dutch students and young residents were accommodated alongside refugees with residence permits.

REFUGEE HOUSING SCANDAL

An investigation by Dutch television program Zembla documented years of complaints involving sexual harassment, violence, intimidation and other serious incidents at the complex, which opened in 2018 as an integration initiative.

One former resident was convicted of sexual offenses involving female residents, while housing corporation Stadgenoot warned municipal authorities in 2023 that it could no longer guarantee safety under the existing arrangements.

Amsterdam’s municipal leadership decided to continue the project with additional security measures and a changed balance between refugees and other residents.

Opposition parties VVD (People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy) and JA21 (Right Answer 2021) accused city officials of failing to intervene decisively and adequately inform the city council.

Yet housing alderman Zita Pels and asylum reception alderman Rutger Groot Wassink survived a motion of disapproval in February.

WOMEN FEAR CYCLING ALONE

Fear has also spread to the streets: an Amsterdam municipal survey published in February found that 78 percent of young women sometimes feared being harassed while cycling through the Dutch capital.

Across all adult cyclists surveyed, 47 percent reported such fears, while 22 percent identified locations where they had experienced harassment.

Amsterdam police also reported dozens of incidents of sexual harassment and intimidation around the Sloterplas lake, where groups of young people, often riding electric fatbikes, allegedly verbally abused women and slapped them on their buttocks.

Similar assaults in other Amsterdam parks, including Vondelpark, were filmed by perpetrators and shared on social media, including TikTok, prompting police investigations into what appeared to be a recurring pattern involving several groups of youths.

Police increased patrols around Sloterplas, deploying plainclothes officers, mounted police and drones in an effort to protect women and identify offenders.

ETHNIC BACKGROUNDS DEBATED

The harassment has also raised questions about the backgrounds of offenders and whether Amsterdam’s authorities have been sufficiently willing to confront the problem.

Influential Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf (The Telegraph) has pointed to research and victims’ experiences suggesting an overrepresentation of young perpetrators of Moroccan origin in harassment targeting women and gay people.

However, the available police reports about the filmed assaults in Amsterdam’s parks did not specify the ethnic backgrounds of the suspects.

Opposition politicians have also criticized Halsema’s decision not to install fixed surveillance cameras around Sloterplas despite mounting complaints. Municipal authorities maintained that mobile patrols, drones and additional enforcement offered more effective protection.

In a separate dispute, opposition politicians accused GroenLinks alderman Rutger Groot Wassink of withholding a report in which gay men described harassment by groups of youths, including those of Moroccan origin. Groot Wassink denied suppressing the findings but acknowledged that the report should have been presented to the city council sooner.

ASYLUM AND HOUSING PRESSURES

The debate comes as the Netherlands continues to struggle with asylum reception and a severe housing shortage.

According to Statistics Netherlands (CBS), 24,070 people submitted first-time asylum applications in 2025, compared with 32,180 in 2024. Another 16,500 family members arrived through asylum-related family reunification.

The government estimates that the country faces a shortage of approximately 384,000 homes in 2026, contributing to long waiting lists, particularly for affordable housing.

Recognized refugees also require accommodation, adding to demand in an already strained housing market. Dutch municipalities have faced government requirements to provide accommodation for asylum seekers, including single men from predominantly Muslim countries, prompting opposition from some local residents, including women and parents.

Climate and nitrogen-emissions policies affecting construction, alongside household growth and broader population changes, have also contributed to the housing crisis.

CALLS FOR GREATER PROTECTION

The combination of housing pressures, integration challenges and concerns about public safety has intensified political disagreements over the scale and management of immigration.

The controversies have renewed demands for stronger safeguards for women, greater accountability from public authorities and closer scrutiny of integration policies.

Campaigners have stressed that violence against women occurs across Dutch society, while supporters of tighter immigration controls have called for stronger action against foreign offenders.

Halsema has pledged to continue measures intended to improve women’s safety, while insisting that the investigation into Hajar’s death must proceed without political interference.

Hajar’s family, represented by lawyer Richard Korver, has asked for privacy as relatives prepare to bury her and investigators seek to establish the circumstances of her death.

WOMEN KILLED EVERY EIGHT DAYS

The suspect remains in custody after an Amsterdam judge ordered his detention extended for another 14 days on Friday.

Official figures show that 38 women were killed in homicides in the Netherlands in 2025, compared with 44 the previous year, according to Statistics Netherlands (CBS).

From 2020 through 2024, an average of approximately 43 women were killed annually, equivalent to roughly one woman every eight days.

About half of female homicide victims were killed by a current or former partner, while others were killed by relatives, acquaintances or strangers.

Although the overall number of homicides in the Netherlands has declined significantly over recent decades, killings involving intimate partners have remained a persistent concern.

And Hajar’s grieving relatives want to know what happened in the final hours of her life amid a national debate over immigration, women’s safety and why authorities did not respond more quickly to warnings of violence.