A Dutch court convicts two Pakistani men of making death threats against Islamophobic MP Geert Wilders

SCHIPHOL, Netherlands — A Dutch court on Monday convicted two Pakistani religious and political leaders in absentia of calling on their followers to assassinate Islamophobic MP Geert Wilders, leader of the Party for Freedom, which won the Dutch general election last year.

Wilders has lived under 24-hour surveillance for nearly 20 years because he has received thousands of death threats because of his outspoken criticism of Islam. His bodyguards and two armed military police officers were in the courtroom at Monday's hearing.

None of the defendants were present at the sentencing. They are believed to be in Pakistan and are unlikely to be extradited because Pakistan has no extradition treaty with the Netherlands. Prosecutors said last week that their requests to Pakistani authorities for legal assistance in serving summons on the two men were not carried out.

The court found Muhammad Ashraf Asif Jalali guilty of attempting to provoke a murder with terrorist intent, inciting Wilders' murder and making threats. He was sentenced to 14 years in prison, which is the sentence requested by the prosecution last week.

The court said Jalali was a religious leader who, according to his website, had millions of followers around the world. His comments to his followers “violated Wilders' privacy in a very serious way,” it said. Such threats “can also affect freedom of expression in general, while a democratic society benefits from being able to exchange opinions without physical danger.”

In the second case, the court convicted Saad Rizvi, leader of the radical Islamic Tehreek-e-Labaik Pakistan (TLP), of inciting the murder of and threatening Wilders. He was sentenced to four years in prison, two years less than the prosecution had demanded. He received a lesser sentence, in part because the court ruled that his comments posted on social media did not constitute a terrorist crime.

Wilders welcomed the verdicts and sentences of the three-member panel of judges.

“I am very pleased about this. I believe it is really the first time in Holland that an imam, in this case from abroad, has been sentenced to a long prison term for issuing a fatwa on the head of a Dutch parliamentarian. On my head. And I am very pleased about this,” he said outside the courtroom.

They are not the first Pakistani men to be convicted in the Netherlands for threatening Wilders.

Last year, former Pakistani cricketer Khalid Latif was sentenced to 12 years in prison for allegedly offering a reward for Wilders' death. Latif also failed to appear in court and is not in custody in the Netherlands. Rizvi publicly praised Latif, the court ruled on Monday.

In addition, in 2019, a Pakistani man was arrested in the Netherlands, found guilty and sentenced to ten years in prison for planning a terrorist attack against Wilders, who is sometimes referred to as the Dutch Donald Trump.

A prosecutor, who asked not to be identified for security reasons, told judges last week that threats were made on social media after Wilders announced plans to hold a competition for caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad in 2018. The planned competition sparked angry protests in Pakistan and other parts of the Muslim world.

Physical depictions of the Prophet are forbidden in Islam and are deeply offensive to Muslims.

Wilders told the judge last week what impact the threats had on his life.

“Every day you get up and drive to work in an armored vehicle, often with a siren blaring, and somewhere in the back of your mind you are always aware that this could be your last day,” he said.