Moroccan Expatriate Found Dead in Netherlands Laid to Rest in Hometown

Ahmed Oulad Sedik’s body now rests next to his parents, brothers, and other family members in the Sidi Sarem cemetery in Nador. "We buried him, he returned to where he was born, right next to it," says his brother Abdeslam. "The mountains around him, under this magnificent sun and this blue sky. [...] It was a busy and emotional day," Abdeslam Oulad Sedik, Ahmed’s brother, recalls. Parents and friends attended the funeral. "We feel that everyone here has shared our grief a lot: family, friends, villagers. In this way, they can still say goodbye to him, because he was also their cousin or their uncle."

Abdeslam is marked by the death of his brother. "Life is made up of circles, we all have a circle to complete. For Ahmed, it was January 2, the day he was found," he adds. Missing from his home in the Dorrestein neighborhood on December 23, 2024, this man suffering from dementia and psychological disorders had given no sign of life. His relatives conducted their own investigations, particularly near the family home and around the train station.

Large-scale searches had been launched, with the participation of hundreds of volunteers. The law enforcement agencies, supported by the Veteranen Search Team, lent a hand to Ahmed’s family. 11 days later, a passer-by discovered his body in the Klein Zwitserland woods on the outskirts of Amersfoort, on January 2, 2025. The next day, more than five thousand people attended a funeral prayer, the janazah, at the El-Fath mosque, located on Zangvogelweg. The body will then be repatriated to Morocco for the funeral.

After Ahmed’s burial, the Oulad Sedik family will meet again on Sunday for the same exercise. "On Sunday, we will bury an aunt in the same place," Abdeslam says. "So death surrounds us every day."

### ARTICLE