2 Pakistanis convicted of incitement to kill Dutch politician Wilders

A DUTCH court on Monday convicted two Pakistani men for inciting their followers to murder far-right Dutch politician Geert Wilders.

The men, Muhammed Ashraf Jalali and Saad Hussain Rizvi, were sentenced in absentia as Pakistan did not compel them to attend the high-security trial despite requests from the Netherlands.

Wilders, the leader of the Freedom Party (PVV) and the winner of the Dutch parliamentary elections in November, has been under 24-hour protection since 2004 due to threats following his comments on Islam.

The court sentenced Jalali, a 56-year-old religious leader, to 14 years for calling on his followers to kill Wilders, promising they would be "rewarded in the afterlife." Judges ruled that Jalali had "abused his authority" as a religious figure and that his followers could have acted on his call.

Rizvi, the 29-year-old leader of the Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) party, received a four-year sentence for encouraging his followers to kill Wilders and for glorifying earlier comments by Pakistani cricketer Khalid Latif. Latif had been sentenced to 12 years in September 2023 for inciting the murder of Wilders after the Dutch politician proposed a cartoon competition featuring images of the Prophet Mohammed.

The contest was cancelled after widespread protests in Pakistan and numerous death threats against Wilders. A Pakistani man was sentenced to 10 years in 2019 for plotting to kill Wilders in response to the event.

Reacting to the ruling, Wilders said the case had greatly impacted him and his family. He called for the immediate arrest and imprisonment of Jalali and Rizvi, stating that making cartoons of the Prophet was a matter of "freedom of expression."

Though the men were convicted, there is no judicial agreement between the Netherlands and Pakistan, making it unlikely they will serve their sentences.

(With inputs from AFP)