On 5 March 2020 Mr. Basim Razzo sent the State of the Netherlands a declaration of liability for the damages he suffered as a result of an unlawful bombardment the Netherlands carried out on him, his family and his home.
In the night of 21 September 2015, Dutch F-16’s bombed Razzo’s house and the adjacent home of his brother. The State has since acknowledged that it was responsible for the bombardment and that Razzo’s house had been targeted on the basis of incorrect intel.
As a result of the bombing, Razzo’s wife and daughter were killed on impact, as well as his brother and cousin. Razzo himself suffered fractures of his hip, pelvic bone and left foot. His family home and car were also completely destroyed. In addition, Razzo is unable to return to his former place of residence in Mosul as the Coalition broadcasted video imagery of the bombardment on Youtube in which the clearly identifiable home of Razzo was wrongly labeled an 'ISIS-building'. Because of this, and in spite of the fact that the Coalition has acknowledged that in fact no ties existed between Razzo and the ISIS, associations are made between him and ISIS to this day.
Partially released documents reveal which intel formed the basis for the decision to mark Razzo’s house as a target. For example, drone surveillance is said to have taken place for 1 hour and 35 minutes. By military standards, that is extremely short. The documents also state that the images mainly show what is not there: no weapons, no ISIS-combatants, no ISIS-flags. Also, further intel-sources label an adjacent complex as an ISIS-headquarters, not Razzo’s house.
Mr. Razzo holds the State of the Netherlands liable for the material and immaterial damages he suffered as a result of the bombardment and has requested the State to respond to his declaration of liability within three weeks. Lawyer Liebeth Zegveld is representing Razzo in this case.
See also (in Dutch):
- K. Versteegh, 'Slachtoffer Nederlandse luchtaanval eist 2,3 miljoen dollar', NRC Next, 6 March 2020
- O. van Joolen & S. Schoonhoven, 'Slachtoffer Nederlandse vergisbom claimt miljoenen smartengeld', De Telegraaf, 6 March 2020
- Background story about Razzo: A. Khan & A. Gopal, 'The Uncounted', New York Times, 16 November 2017