Nearly two years after a 14-year-old Moroccan-Dutch boy was wrongly arrested in Urk on suspicion of burning Israeli flags, an investigation has revealed that local authorities acted against Public Prosecution Service (OM) guidelines. The findings, published Thursday by Dutch newspaper Nederlands Dagblad (ND), show that the OM only cleared the boy's name more than three weeks after his arrest. By then, the family had already become the target of threats and attacks on their home, forcing them to flee the village. Documents released under the Open Government Act indicate that the local security triangle, the OM, police, and municipality, pushed for a swift arrest to prevent unrest after the flag burning. The incident occurred days after residents had hung Israeli flags in solidarity with the victims of the October 7 Hamas attack. «The goal was to prevent polarization and social unrest in Urk in the coming weekend», a police timeline stated. The boy's father told ND that his son's arrest was intended as a «lightning rod» to calm tensions. Although the interrogation ended after 20 minutes without evidence and the boy was released immediately, his innocence was not made public until weeks later. Professor Sven Brinkhoff of the University of Amsterdam called the delay «incomprehensible and reprehensible», adding: «If the Public Prosecution Service actively seeks the press in a case and it later turns out someone was wrongly identified, they should immediately debunk it. Especially in a village where emotions can run high». During that time, the teenager became the target of online abuse that escalated into real-world violence. Stones were thrown twice at the family's home, shattering windows. The family consisting of a grandmother, parents and three minor children eventually fled Urk and now live in social isolation at an undisclosed location in the Netherlands. Several family members continue to suffer from anxiety, nightmares, and depression, according to ND. Civil proceedings against the municipality are still ongoing. Meanwhile, the OM announced in July that it will examine whether the family and their lawyers can access the son's original legal documents.
