Regional newspaper De Gelderlander has decided not to publish an interview with a Moroccan woman after the newspaper was threatened by her son. Nonetheless, the editors deny they gave in to intimidation.
Two Moroccan criminals ran over a 50 year old man with their scooter last month while fleeing from the police after robbing a hotel. The perpetrators then went to the hospital where doctors were trying to save the man’s life. He died because they made their work impossible.
De Gelderlander interviewed the mother and sister of one of the perpetrators, an 18 year old Moroccan youngster. The interview was however never published. The newspaper says that the women “withdrew their cooperation with the interview.”
The brother of one of the suspects visited the editorial staff of De Gelderlander last Friday and demanded that the newspaper drop publication. The youth also threatened an editor, according to the newspaper. “We would obviously have preferred to publish,” says chief editor Kees Pijnappels. “But we are morally obligated to the sister and mother. Because of their decision to withdraw their cooperation, we cannot publish.”
The mother likely distanced herself from the behaviour of her son in the unpublished interview. De Gelderlander earlier published a letter of apology from family members of the other suspect in the scooter accident.