Pregnant asylum seeker sues Dutch police after violent arrest
Note: AI technology was used to generate this article’s audio.
Malak Mahmoud, a heavily pregnant woman at the time, was filmed being thrown to the ground and dragged by Dutch police officers during an incident at an asylum seekers’ center in Zeist in late May. .
The video, which captured the arrest of her husband, a Palestinian asylum seeker from Gaza, quickly went viral, sparking widespread outrage over the treatment of the couple.
Mahmoud, who had fled war in Syria and sought safety in the Netherlands with her husband Wesam Mekdad, said she was “simply trying to ask the officers a question” about accompanying her husband.
Trigger alert!
— Arya Yadegaar (@AryJeayBackup) May 30, 2026
Footage circulating online shows Dutch police smashing a PREGNANT Palestinian woman into the ground, while posing no threat at all, in the Netherlands. pic.twitter.com/mnPUL1g5MW
“In that moment, before I even had a chance to receive an answer from the police, the response I received was a hit,” she said in a video call.
She added that she was speaking English while officers responded in Dutch, which she did not understand, and described being “subjected to violence and beaten by the Dutch police.”
The incident reportedly occurred as police responded to reports of threats and vandalism at the center.
According to police accounts, officers asked Mahmoud to leave for her safety, and physical force followed her alleged refusal to comply.
One officer later stated he had been unaware she was pregnant and would have “acted differently” if he had known.
Following the event, Mahmoud went into premature labor and gave birth to a daughter, Reem, shortly afterward.
The family has since relocated, with reports indicating they are now in Germany.
On Wednesday, Mahmoud filed a criminal complaint against the officers involved.
Supported by the European Legal Support Center (ELSC), the complaint accuses the officers of attempted grievous bodily harm, assault, and breaching rules on the use of force.
The ELSC noted that this follows an internal police integrity committee’s conclusion that the force used was “necessary,” an assessment conducted by the force investigating itself without public release of full details.
“This fight is about accountability for institutional racism and violence inflicted on asylum seekers in general, and Palestinians in particular,” the ELSC stated.
Police in Zeist had previously opened an investigation into the use of force shortly after the video emerged.
Mahmoud has called for the process to be “fair and transparent.”
