In absentia: Trial of 2 Pakistanis for incitement to kill Dutch far-right leader begins

SCHIPHOL, Netherlands: Two Pakistanis stood trial in absentia Monday at a high security court in the Netherlands over alleged attempts to incite the murder of far-right and anti-Islam Dutch leader Geert Wilders.

Dutch prosecutors have charged 56-year-old religious leader Muhammed Ashraf Jalali for calling on his followers to kill Wilders and promising they would be “rewarded in the afterlife.” Another man, Saad Hussain Rizvi, leader of the Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) party, is suspected of urging followers to kill Wilders after Pakistani cricketer Khalid Latif was sentenced for incitement to murder him.

“This case has had a huge impact on me and my family,” said Wilders, dressed in a dark suit, white shirt and maroon tie. “I´m asking this court to send a strong signal... that calling a fatwa in this country is unacceptable,” he added.

The trial took place at a highly secure courthouse near Amsterdam´s Schiphol airport. Dutch authorities asked Islamabad for legal assistance to question the suspects and demanded they appear in court.

However, no treaty exists with Pakistan for mutual legal assistance and the two men did not appear in the dock. Neither man had legal representation present. In September last year, judges sentenced Latif to 12 years behind bars for incitement to murder Wilders after the firebrand lawmaker sought to arrange a blasphemous competition.

Wilders cancelled the contest after protests broke out in Pakistan and he was inundated with death threats. He has been under 24-hour state protection since 2004.

The planned competition “caused a lot of unrest within the Muslim community. He (Wilders) received hundreds, if not thousands of death threats,” said the judge, who asked not to be identified. In the Netherlands, the plan to stage the contest was widely criticised as needlessly antagonising Muslims.

But the call to kill Wilders appeared to resonate, as a Pakistani man was sentenced to 10 years in prison in 2019 for plotting his assassination in the wake of the cancelled contest. The public prosecutor called for Jalali to receive 14 years in prison. Six years were requested against Rizvi with a verdict expected on September 9.

“The aim of the suspect (Jalali) was to kill Wilders. He (Jalali) had great influence in Pakistan,” alleged the prosecutor, who asked to remain anonymous. “Unfortunately we see politicians being more and more threatened because of what they say and think.”