The death of Theo Van Gogh:
Assassination
Place where Van Gogh was killed
Demonstration at the Dam square after Van Gogh was killed
Demonstrators. The sign, translated, says "Theo has been murdered."
Mohammed Bouyeri murdered Van Gogh in the early morning of 2 November 2004, in Amsterdam, in front of the Amsterdam East borough office (stadsdeelkantoor) on the corner of the Linnaeusstraat and Tweede Oosterparkstraat (52°21′32.22″N 4°55′34.74″E), while he was cycling to work.[3] Bouyeri shot van Gogh eight times with an HS 2000 handgun, and Van Gogh died on the spot. Bouyeri then attempted to decapitate him with one knife,[4] and stabbed him in the chest with another. The two knives were left implanted in his torso, one attaching a five-page note to his body. The note (Text) threatened Western countries, Jews and Ayaan Hirsi Ali (who went into hiding).[5][6] The note also contained references to the ideologies of the Egyptian organization Takfir wal-Hijra.
The killer, Mohammed Bouyeri, a 26-year-old Dutch-Moroccan citizen, was apprehended by the police after being shot in the leg. Bouyeri has alleged terrorist ties with the Dutch Hofstad Network. He was also charged with the attempted murder of several police officers and bystanders, illegal possession of a firearm, and conspiring to murder others, including Hirsi Ali. He was convicted on 26 July 2005 and sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole.[7]
Imam Fawaz of the as-Sunnah Mosque in The Hague gave a sermon several weeks before the murder in which he called Theo van Gogh "a 'criminal bastard' and prayed for the filmmaker to be afflicted with an incurable disease."[8]
The murder of Theo Van Gogh sparked a storm of outrage throughout the Netherlands. Flowers, notes, drawings, and other expressions of mourning were left at the scene of the murder.[9]
