15 Facts About Mohammed Bouyeri

1.

Mohammed Bouyeri is a Moroccan-Dutch convicted murderer serving a life sentence without parole in the prison of Nieuw Vosseveld for the assassination of Dutch film director Theo van Gogh.

2.

Mohammed Bouyeri often posted letters online and sent e-mails under this name.

3.

Mohammed Bouyeri grew a beard and began to wear a djellaba.

4.

Mohammed Bouyeri frequently visited the El Tawheed mosque where he met other radical Sunnis, among whom was the suspected terrorist Samir Azzouz.

5.

The 26-year-old Mohammed Bouyeri assassinated van Gogh in the early morning of 2 November 2004 in front of the Amsterdam-Oost borough office while he was bicycling to work.

6.

Mohammed Bouyeri shot van Gogh eight times with a handgun and wounded two bystanders.

7.

Mohammed Bouyeri then walked up to van Gogh, who was still lying down, and shot him several more times at close range.

8.

Mohammed Bouyeri then cut van Gogh's throat and tried to decapitate him with a large knife, after which he stabbed the knife deep into van Gogh's chest, reaching his spinal cord.

9.

Mohammed Bouyeri then attached a five-page note to the body with a smaller knife before fleeing.

10.

Mohammed Bouyeri's trial took place over two days, 11 and 12 July 2005, in a high-security building in Amsterdam's Osdorp neighbourhood.

11.

Mohammed Bouyeri's lawyers attended the trial, but they did not ask questions or make closing statements.

12.

Mohammed Bouyeri appeared before the court carrying a Quran under his arm.

13.

Mohammed Bouyeri argued that "in the fight of the believers against the infidels, violence is approved by the prophet Muhammad".

14.

Mohammed Bouyeri is held in the EBI facility within Nieuw Vosseveld prison.

15.

Taghi and Mohammed Bouyeri continued writing each other in Arabic, mostly consisting of Quran verses.