The first thought that crosses your mind when watching a film like iHostage is what made the perpetrator take that step; what were his motivations; what was going through his mind at that particular moment; and what was he trying to prove to the world? When a hostage taker by the name of Abdel Rahman Akkad (Ammar in the Netflix film) started waving his guns around in an Apple store in Leidseplein on 22nd February 2022, nobody knew what his intentions were and why, of all places, he chose an ordinary electronics store to take hostages. I mean, generally a person who wants money would either go to a bank or a jewelry shop, right? But our perpetrator went directly to an Apple Store and held a Bulgarian man hostage for the next 5 hours.
Maybe Abdel had a theory in his mind that if he attacked a place of historic relevance and threatened to blow it up, then the authorities would listen to him. I guess his idea did work, as the entire local police department had the rug pulled out from under them, and for a really long period of time, they had no clue how to deal with the man. usually , in such situations, there is a set threat response handbook that the authorities follow, but in Abdel’s case they got a bit confused. The reason for that happening was that Abdel was not a habitual robber; though he had been involved in certain illegal activities in the past, he hadn’t done anything of this magnitude before. It is to be stated here that almost everything shown in iHostage happened in real life. So, from the 4 people who were stuck in the broom closet to the 60 or more people who had escaped to the first floor, everything took place in real life. When Abdel was caught and the nightmare came to an end, the police officials made a statement that he was confused and likely mentally disturbed, due to which it was difficult to ascertain the true motive behind the crime. And what was worse, the authorities never got a chance to interrogate Abdel, because the man succumbed to his injuries a day after the incident.
Abdel Had Been Arrested Before
The police, during an initial background check, found out that Abdel had been convicted multiple times in the past. He used to harass his ex-girlfriend by sending insulting texts and images. Also, he was found guilty of illegal possession of a firearm and of using it to threaten his girlfriend. The court gave him a 3-year restraining order and ordered him to perform 60 hours of community service. This very incident proved one thing: that Abdel had been mentally unstable for quite a long time. He felt he was fighting a corrupt system, but in reality he was tackling his traumas and the demons that existed within him.
According to the documentary, The Hostage Situation in the Apple Store, Abdel had moved to Syria with his parents when he was 15, i.e., in 2010. The police negotiators believed that the strife and warfare had a huge impact on Abdel’s psyche and traumatized him to the core. He saw cities getting bombed, people living in a state of fear, and the deplorable conditions of life there. In 2018, Abdel had also set up an installation company, which, as the media reports suggest, specialized in numerous household solutions like plumbing, installing kitchen appliances, etc. But even though Abdel had some high aspirations, his dream business never took flight.
In 2022, Abdel was working as a delivery truck driver for Albert Heijn, a supermarket chain, and drove the same truck to the crime scene, parking it outside the store. The lights on the truck kept on flashing the entire time, and the officers believed that he might have hidden explosives inside the vehicle as well. At around 7:53 p.m., an Albert Heijn delivery man was reported missing, and when DSI officer Willem and his team of police negotiators found out the assassin’s first name, they quickly connected the dots and knew that the loner delivery man was the man they had been looking for.
Abdel Blamed The Government For His Misery
There were certain statements made by Abdel’s fictional counterpart, Ammar (which I am presuming to be true of Abdel as well for the sake of my deductions), that gave us an insight into the kind of man he was. It was quite evident that he felt victimized, and that he blamed the entire state machinery for his plight. He said that from the justice department to the policy makers, every single one was responsible for his situation. The irony was that though he victimized himself, he also felt that he was not worthy of anything. There was a point while talking to the Bulgarian hostage when the hostage taker told him that he knew that he was not worthy of love because of the things he had done in the past. Maybe he was referring to his ex-girlfriend, whom he had harassed and threatened back in the day. Or maybe he was speaking about his parents, who never really felt proud of their son.
Abdel Became A Victim Of His Own Confusion
Abdel had made himself believe that he had reached a point of no return. He had no escape plans whatsoever; as in an absurd demand, he’d asked for a limousine from the negotiators. Any seasoned criminal or even anyone who was of sound mind would have asked for something that drew less attention. I felt like Ammar’s mind worked like that of a child and he thought that everything he wished would come true. Ammar asked for 200 million in cryptocurrency, as he knew that he could use that money to live like a king someplace else. There came a point, during the hostage situation, when Ammar’s delusions led him to feel powerful primarily because he was in a position of authority at that moment and the police were ready to do anything that he asked. He started seeing himself as a Robin Hood. While having a conversation with the hostage, he said that he could use the money to uplift the downtrodden. He felt that he had a chance to make a change that the authorities would never undertake. But was social welfare really on his mind? I don’t think so. The man was confused and delusional, and the moment he set foot into that store, he had signed his death warrant.
The hostage situation was never going to end in his favor. He was ill-prepared; he wasn’t a seasoned criminal, and so he did get manipulated by the negotiators. Had he been a hardened criminal, one who knew the consequences of his actions, he would have never given them his name, and second, he would have had a better plan in place to deal with the situation at hand and, most importantly of all, escape from there. He likely didn’t mean to cause any harm to the hostages, and might have been looking for a way to earn easy money so he could fulfill his dreams, though, as the Bulgarian man pointed out, he had chosen the wrong path to achieve his goals.
Abdel passed away in the hospital
In the end, Abdel was hit with an armored DSI vehicle outside the store. He quickly lost consciousness and was taken to the hospital, where he passed away the next day on 23rd February. During the post-incident investigation, the authorities found out that the explosives Abdel had on him weren’t real. They were harmless plastic explosives mostly used in training. However, till the very end, the police weren’t able to figure out how Abdel procured these arms and ammunition, and why he chose a spot where he knew he’d end up surrounded sooner or later.
From saying that he was not worthy of love to feeling like an inconsequential being and then giving himself enough authority to perceive himself as some kind of Robin Hood, Abdel went through a myriad of feelings through the course of the attack. In the end, I feel that he just wanted a big shadow to pin all the blame on, as he was too scared to analyze his own actions and accept where the real problem lay.
