A viral video showing a Dutch police officer at an asylum center forcefully throwing a heavily pregnant woman to the ground, while her Palestinian husband was being detained, has sparked widespread public outrage online. And now, the couple has finally spoken up about the incident.

According to the Syrian Observer, which translated a report on Syria TV, the woman in the viral video is a German-Syrian named Malak Mahmoud, and her husband, Wissam Miqdad, is from Gaza. They were asylum seekers at the Central Agency for the Reception of Asylum Seekers (COA) in Zeist, Netherlands, when the assault took place.

The incident took place on May 19, 2026, when Dutch police responded to the asylum center in Zeist following reports of vandalism and a knife threat, according to the Dutch Review.

30-year-old Miqdad told Syria TV he was under extreme stress. He and his wife had received a deportation order, and he had just heard that his brothers and many close friends were allegedly killed in an Israeli strike in Gaza. Although the news later turned out to be false, Miqdad had already created a scene at the asylum center.

Miqdad told Syria TV that he was overcome by immense grief and “violent anger” after initially learning about the news. “I smashed some furniture in the room where I was staying at an asylum seekers’ reception center in Zeist,” he said.

Miqdad told the news outlet that when the police arrived, he did not resist them. “I raised my hands while my wife was speaking to the police, asking them to let her come with me, to treat me with some respect and kindness, and to take into account the situation I was going through,” he said.

This is when a police officer used excessive force against his wife, despite being told that she was nine months pregnant, Miqdad said.

In the viral video, the officer is seen throwing the visibly pregnant woman to the ground and dragging her by her hair during the arrest.

Miqdad said that he attacked the police officer then because he feared for his wife and their unborn baby. “I attacked him to defend her, although I was unarmed. Then all of them began beating us before they arrested me,” he said.

Miqdad spent four days in custody, pending investigation. A judge later ordered his release after he agreed to cover the cost of the damage to his room. He is still awaiting trial.

His wife, Malak, gave birth to their first daughter just five days after the assault.

Speaking to Al Jazeera about the disturbing incident, Malak said that she was grabbed and forced to the ground after simply asking them if she could accompany her husband to detention.

She told the news outlet that she was in the final month of her pregnancy and did not know anyone else in the Netherlands. Mahmoud further claimed that while she spoke to the officers in English, they replied in Dutch, a language she does not understand.

“In that moment, before I even had a chance to receive an answer from the police, the response I received was a hit,” Mahmoud told the news outlet.

After the video went viral online and sparked severe backlash, the officer said he had not been aware that Mahmoud was pregnant. He added that he would have “acted differently” had he known. Police also stated that officers had asked Mahmoud to leave “for her safety” and that the physical intervention occurred after she refused to comply.

Authorities in Zeist have since launched an investigation into the incident.