A 73-year-old man who was convicted in absentia two years ago for killing his wife in Siddeburen has been arrested in Morocco. His lawyer and the Public Prosecution Service have confirmed this to the Dagblad van het Noorden.
The woman disappeared in early 2010 at the age of 33 and was never seen again. All kinds of traces were found in her house that indicated that she had been killed.
Her husband, Kasem M., was in custody for more than six months after her disappearance. When he was released pending the investigation, he and their son left for Morocco, his wife’s homeland, and continued to live there.
In 2019, M. was sentenced in absentia to fifteen years in prison for killing his wife and disposing of her body. Last week, the appeal was supposed to be lodged in Leeuwarden and according to his lawyer, M. would have liked to be there, but the air traffic obstacles due to corona threw a spanner in the works.
Arrest Request
According to the OM, the arrest in Morocco follows an arrest request from the Netherlands. “We were not entirely sure whether he really wanted to come to the Netherlands. We are happy that he has now been arrested,” a spokesperson told Dagblad van het Noorden.
M.’s lawyer expects that his client will be transferred to the Netherlands after a short extradition procedure. He will then be detained on the basis of his conviction in 2019. M. denies that he killed his wife.
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