Dutch arrested in Latvia for transporting refugees: ‘Wanted to save sister’

• Nina Jansen

  editor Domestic

Two Dutch people risk a maximum of eight years in prison in Latvia. They are suspected of involvement in the illegal transport of migrants to the European Union.

It concerns Abdulaal Hussein and Martine Doppen, who told the NOS that they tried to rescue Abdulaal’s sister and four other refugees, who had been left behind by human smugglers in an abandoned farm without food and water.

The NOS spoke with Abdulaal Hussein several times in recent months and saw the criminal file.

The Dutch were arrested by the Latvian border guard on November 20, 2023, just after midnight, with two refugees in their car, while they were on their way to Lithuania. Transporting refugees across the border is prohibited in Latvia. “I knew the risks, but I just wanted to save my sister,” says Abdulaal. There is a whole story that precedes the action.

Abdulaal himself fled to the Netherlands from Sudan alone in 2016, where he opposed the government. He now has Dutch nationality. His sister Mabroka stayed behind in Sudan. She also decided to flee Sudan in 2023 because she felt unsafe.

Abdulaal paid people smugglers who arranged a visa for Russia for Mabroka in Egypt. From Russia they took her to the border between Belarus and Latvia. There she had to walk through the forests to Latvia herself. The human smugglers took her from the border to a farm and promised to pick her up again soon and take her to Germany. But that didn’t happen. She was stuck there with four other refugees from Sudan and Chad.

Every now and then the smugglers appeared to ask Mabroka to text her brother in the Netherlands for extra money. Abdulaal transferred thousands of euros extra, most recently on November 18. But then he didn’t trust it anymore. Mabroka had barely eaten or drunk for six days and was melting snow to get water. That’s why Abdulaal flew to Lithuania with girlfriend Martine in an attempt to save his sister.

In Lithuania they rented a car and drove to the farm in Latvia, where they found Mabroka starving. Abdulaal and Martine took her and two other women by car to an apartment rented through AirBnB in Lithuania, about a two-hour drive away. They returned for the two refugees left behind, but then they were arrested.

Abdulaal and Martine ended up in prison, in pre-trial detention. The two refugees in the car were transferred across the border to Belarus after detention. “I have sometimes thought: I wish I had only saved my sister and left the others behind. But I couldn’t do it. They could have died, and I would never forgive myself for that,” says Abdulaal.

The Dutch were initially charged with the “illegal movement of persons across the state border” from Latvia to Lithuania, which carries a maximum sentence of six years in prison. Later the charges were changed: Abdulaal and Martine were said to be part of the group of human smugglers they previously paid and are now also charged with transporting refugees from Belarus to Latvia. “An organized group with malicious intent,” the indictment says, with a prison sentence of between two and eight years.

Abdulaal swears: “There is absolutely no organization involved. I just wanted to save my sister.” That explanation was in the original indictment but has been removed from the newly drawn up indictment, the NOS has established.

Martine was in pre-trial detention for two days and paid 6,000 euros bail, but Abdulaal was only released a month and a half later, after paying a 30,000 euros bail. “I was put in the most dangerous part of the prison, with all kinds of members of the Wagner group. My cellmate was a murderer, and they were very racist. I was also barely fed and I lost nine kilos.”

Abdulaal must await the trial in Latvia. Martine is allowed to travel freely. Abdulaal has now been given leave for medical reasons to temporarily go to the Netherlands, where he is now. Mabroka has also arrived in the Netherlands and is awaiting her asylum procedure. It is not yet clear when the lawsuit will take place.