A former Pakistani international cricketer went on trial on Tuesday in the Netherlands for allegedly attempting to incite the murder of anti-Islam MP Geert Wilders, with prosecutors demanding a 12-year sentence if convicted.
Dutch public prosecutors alleged Khalid Latif, 37, who remains in Pakistan, had offered 21,000 euros ($23,000) in an online video from 2018 in which he called for Wilders’ killing.
The outspoken Dutch MP at the time cancelled a competition for caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) after angry demonstrations broke out, particularly in Pakistan, and the far-right politician was inundated with death threats.
“Latif tried to move others to murder Wilders and to avenge the cartoon contest,” prosecutor FA Kuipers told the judges.
“Not only was his goal to end a human life with violence, but with his appeal he tried to silence a Dutch representative,” she claimed at a court hearing, held at a high-security courthouse near Schiphol airport.
“Calling for a murder to prevent the cartoon competition and offering a sum of money to kill the organiser of that competition, should be very severely punished as far as the public prosecution is concerned,” Kuipers added, before asking for a 12-year sentence.
Neither Latif, nor any lawyer were present in the courtroom.
The Pakistani embassy in The Hague had no comment directly after the hearing and Latif could not be immediately reached for comment.
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