Outgoing Rotterdam mayor Aboutaleb kept cancer diagnosis a secret

In 2020, Ahmed Aboutaleb was diagnosed with thyroid cancer towards the end of his second term as mayor, but decided against going public about the health concern. The cancer diagnosis is revealed in Je suis Ahmed, a book by AD reporter Peter Groenendijk about Aboutaleb's years as the mayor of Rotterdam. The popular mayor is retiring from city politics later this week.

Aboutaleb did not collaborate on the biography. He commented on his secrecy by stating that he did not reveal the news to the public because he thought to himself, “that’s perhaps too personal; you should keep that to yourself.”

The tumors were discovered by accident in late 2020 when Aboutaleb, bothered by his left eye, went for an ultrasound exam. He only allowed the city to announce that he had “a thyroid condition” and that he had undergone “a procedure.”At the City Hall, he informed a limited number of people about the seriousness of the situation, describing it as “a significant setback.” Two weeks after the surgery, during which his thyroid was removed, Aboutaleb returned to work part-time.

About a month after the procedure, the Netherlands implemented a national nighttime curfew for the first time since World War II as one of its measures against the spread of the coronavirus. It led to consecutive nights of rioting, and an angry Aboutaleb showed up during a period of unrest on Beijerlandselaan in his city. He said at the time it was the only moment in his career he threatened to use tear gas to restore public order.

Aboutaleb became Rotterdam’s mayor in January 2009, and he was appointed for a second term in 2015. He was again tapped for a third term in 2021, but decided at the end of last year to step down. His last day in office is on Thursday.

He said that this decision was made together with his family. “I’ll go so far as to say that the domestic front was the initiator of this decision,” Aboutaleb told the local broadcaster Rijnmond.