Police employee shot in Schoonhoven criticized Iranian regime, Justice Minister confirms
The police employee who was shot in Schoonhoven on Thursday morning spoke out against the regime in Tehran, Minister David van Weel of Justice and Security confirmed on Friday. It is not yet clear whether the shooter’s motive is related to this, the Minister said before entering the weekly Council of Ministers meeting.
Sources told NU.nl and the Telegraaf that the police officer, who works as an IT specialist for the Police Service Center, was fleeing the Iranian regime. Van Weel did not confirm this.
“But the fact that he is Iranian, that he spoke out against the regime, is something we must, of course, take seriously,” Van Weel said. “He was known as someone who spoke out against the regime. We have many of those here, of course. Because the reason why many Iranians live here is because they fled that regime.”
The 36-year-old man was shot on Pascalplein in Schoonhoven just before 7:00 a.m. on Thursday. He was rushed to the hospital with serious injuries. A police spokesperson could not comment to NU.nl on his condition on Friday morning.
Residents of Pascalplein told the media that the police employee was ambushed at his home, where he has been living with his wife and child for around six years. Several politicians with an Iranian background have expressed suspicions on social media that the Iranian regime is behind the shooting.
Following attacks on a synagogue in Rotterdam, a Jewish school in Amsterdam, and an Amsterdam office building that houses an American bank - targets linked to Israel and the United States, which started the war in Iran - experts told Trouw that such attacks would likely continue. They also warned that Iranians critical of the regime may be targets of assassination.
