A former Pakistani cricketer, Khalid Latif, has been sentenced to 12 years in prison by a Dutch court for allegedly inciting people to kill Geert Wilders, a firebrand anti-Islam legislator. The court found Latif guilty of offering a bounty of 21,000 euros to anyone who killed Wilders. Latif did not appear in court and was not represented by a lawyer, as he is believed to be in Pakistan, which has no extradition agreement with the Netherlands.
The alleged bounty offer was made after Wilders announced plans to organize a competition of cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad, which many Muslims consider to be blasphemous. Despite the plan not going ahead, the announcement sparked outrage in the Muslim world. Wilders, who has lived under round-the-clock protection for years due to repeated threats to his life, was present in court for the verdict. An international warrant has been issued for Latif’s arrest, and Dutch prosecutors have been trying to contact him since 2018.
Khalid Latif (Via Khalid Latif/Twitter)
According to prosecutors, a video posted online in 2018 showed a famous Pakistan cricketer offering the money for killing Wilders. Wilders himself identified Latif, who was a Pakistani international cricketer before being banned for five years from all forms of cricket for his role in a match-fixing scandal in the Pakistan Super League in 2017.
In delivering its verdict, the court stated that a long-term unconditional term of imprisonment was the only suitable punishment for such offenses. This sentence is seen as a significant one, given the seriousness of the allegations and the fact that Wilders has been living under constant threat for years. The case highlights the ongoing tensions and controversies surrounding Islam and freedom of speech, with Wilders’ views on Islam often sparking heated debate and outrage.
