Dutch government reaches settlement with family of murdered Iranian activist
The Dutch government has agreed on a settlement with the family of Ahmad Mola Nissi, an Iranian politician and activist killed in The Hague in 2017. The family argued that the government failed to adequately protect Nissi despite his repeated requests for help. The settlement prevents the case from going to court and grants the family an unprecedented financial compensation from the Dutch state, according to NOS.
While the Dutch state does not formally admit liability for Nissi’s death, the family regards the settlement as an acknowledgment of the pain they endured and the vulnerable situation they faced.
The settlement comes after the AIVD admitted in October 2023 that vital information about the threat to Nissi should have been communicated to the Public Prosecution Service sooner. Prior to his murder, Nissi is said to have made at least seven formal complaints or reports to the police concerning concrete threats directed at him.
Ahmad Mola Nissi was the head of a separatist movement for the Ahwazi Arab minority in Iran. He fled to the Netherlands around 2006 with his family and settled in The Hague.
According to his family, Iran had issued threats against him even while he was living in the Netherlands, and the Dutch General Intelligence and Security Service (AIVD) had informed him about the danger. He was killed in 2017 in broad daylight, right outside his home.
In 2019, the Dutch government said there were strong indications that Iran was behind the 2017 killing of Nissi and a separate 2015 murder in the Netherlands. That assessment helped trigger European Union sanctions against Iranian intelligence and contributed to diplomatic tensions with Tehran.
In May 2025, authorities detained three men, aged 29, 31, and 37, from Amsterdam, Rotterdam, and Barendrecht, on suspicion of helping plan the attack, providing the weapon, and stealing the getaway vehicle.
Dutch authorities have also identified a Bulgarian man as a potential shooter in the murder. He is currently serving a sentence abroad for a separate offense, and investigators have interviewed him regarding the case, but he has not been arrested or charged in the Netherlands.
Dutch authorities frequently link the Nissi case with the 2015 killing of Ali Motamed in Almere, another assassination for which intelligence services have cited strong indications of Iranian involvement.
