Saturday 30 April 2022 The Guardian •
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Daniel Boff ey
BrusselsThe Netherlands has again been
forced to confront attitudes about
sexual violence towards women after
one of the country’s most famous
football pundits appeared to admit,
on air, to assaulting an unconscious
woman with a candle 50 years ago.
Dutch prosecutors opened an
investigation after Johan Derksen, 73,
made the comments on the talkshow
Today Inside , to the amusement of
presenter Wilfred Genee and fellow
pundit René van der Gijp.
Derksen, a renowned TV personal-
it y, sought to backtrack the following
day, claiming the candle had only
been placed close to the unnamed
woman’s legs.
But he has refused to apologise for
the remarks , saying only that he had
been unclear and had told the story
of a drunken night fi ve decades ago
“in the wrong tone”.
In response to the outcry, Derksen
added: “There is no room for a Johan
Derksen in the Netherlands.”
A spokes person for the Dutch
prosecutors’ offi ce said the chief
prosecutor in the northern Nether-
lands service had opened an inquiry.
“This research is aimed at estab-
lishing the truth of possible criminal
behaviour that was discussed in that
programme,” the y said. “ It is clearReuters
KabulA powerful explosion has killed more
than 50 worshippers after Friday
prayers at a Kabul mosque, the latest
of a series of attacks on civilian tar-
gets in Afghanistan during Ramadan.
The blast hit the Khalifa Sahib
mosque in the west of the capital
in the early afternoon, according to
Besmullah Habib, the deputy spokes-
person for the interior ministry.
The attack came as worshippers at
the Sunni mosque gathered after Fri-
day prayers for a congregation known
as zikr – an act of remembrance prac-
tised by some Muslims but seen as
heretical by some Sunni groups.this is highly unacceptable behaviour
that transgresses boundaries.
“In addition, the way in which it
is talked about in the TV programme
is also particularly hurtful. This
can deeply aff ect victims of sexual
off ences even after a long time.”
The case comes after claims of
widespread sexual abuse on the
Dutch version of The Voice.
Two out of three women in the
Netherlands reported that they were
harassed on Dutch streets in 2021,
according to fi gures from the Cen-
tral Bureau of Statistics.
Both Today Inside and The Voice
Holland are produced by the media
company Talpa , which had said the
presenters would apologise for their
comments, but it was revealed later
that Derksen had quit.
Derksen reportedly told journal-
ists : “We were to off er our sincere
apologies and then they would
decide to continue the programme.
We’re not here to pass an apology
exam. Kiss my arse.”
During the programme , which was
watched by 600,000 viewers, Derk-
sen had recounted what he later
described as a “childhood sin” in 1971,
when he would have been 22.In the UK, Rape Crisis off ers support
for rape and sexual abuse on 0808
802 9999 in England and Wales,
0808 801 0302 in Scotland , or 0800
0246 991 in Northern Ireland.Sayed Fazil Agha, the head of the
mosque, said someone believed to be
a suicide bomber joined them in the
ceremony and detonated explosives.
“Black smoke rose and spread
everywhere, dead bodies were eve-
rywhere,” he said.
A local resident, Mohammad Sabir,
said he had seen people being loaded
into ambulances. “The blast was very
loud. I thought my eardrums were
cracked,” he said.
The emergency hospital in down-
town Kabul said it was treating 21
patients wounded in the blast and
two were dead on arrival.
A nurse at another hospital, who
declined to be identifi ed, said it had
received several people in critical
condition. A health source said hos-
pitals had so far received at least 30
bodies.
Scores of Afghan civilians have
been killed in recent weeks in blasts,
some of which have been claimed by
Islamic State. The Taliban rulers say
they have secured the country since
taking power in August , but inter-
national offi cials say the risk of a
resurgence in militancy remains.Fo otba l l pu nd it
appears to
admit on air to
sexual assault
50 years ago
Blast at Kabul
Sunni mosque
kills more than
50 worshippers
Oleanvine Maynard, and her son
Kadeem, allegedly met what
the affi davit describes as a DEA
confi dential source ( CS).
The CS told Maynard he was a
member of the Sinaloa drug cartel
and he needed a BVI port to store
an initial 3,000 tonnes of cocaine
for 24 to 48 hours until “a window
was open” to take the shipment
on to Puerto Rico, the papers say.
Maynard said they could get the
licences. She allegedly demanded
an upfront payment. Her son,
according to DEA audio, allegedly
said he had been drug -running for
20 years.
According to the papers, the
CS asked if the premier would
want to be involved. Referring
to the premier as “head coach ”,
Maynard allegedly said: “I know
the type of person he is. If he sees
an opportunity, he will take it.
He is a little crook sometimes.
He is not always straight.” The CS
allegedly gave Maynard $20,000 as
a goodwill gesture.
The next day, 22 March , less than
a fortnight before Hickinbottom
submitted his report , Kadeem
allegedly texted the CS to say: “ The
head coach wants to play with the
team this season.”
The CS had said he could get the
drugs to the BVI for about $4,000
a k ilo, but it would sell for $26,000
or $28,000 in Miami and for up to
$38,000 in New York, the papers
say. On 23 March , Kadeem allegedly
explained that the “head coach”
was in, but he needed $500,000 up
front to square another government
offi cial and to sort out the airports.
On 7 April , Fahie and the CS
allegedly met on Tortola, where the
premier, the DEA says, complained
he was not paid much by the British
government.
The CS proposed Fahie be given a
12 % cut of the sales for allowing the
cocaine to pass through BVI ports.
Fahie, the affi davit said, pulled out
a calculator and worked out that
the street value of the cocaine in
Miami was $78m, and h is 10 % at
$7.8m. At one point the informant
allegedly gave Fahie $20,000 ,
saying: “ This is a good faith gift to
seal that we have an agreement.” The British
Virgin Islands
inquiry’s highly
critical report
recommended
the territory
should
eff ectively be
ruled from
London
PHOTOGRAPH:
INGRID ABERY/REX/
SHUTTERSTOCKThe contrast
between the
inquiry and
the DEA sting
was stark:
Yes Minister
meets
Miami Vice▲ Johan Derksen is one of Dutch
TV’s most famous personalities