A Dutch court convicts 2 Pakistani men over death threats to anti-Islam lawmaker Geert Wilders

Associated Press

SCHIPHOL, Netherlands (AP) — A Dutch court has convicted two Pakistani men in their absence over calls to their followers to murder anti-Islam lawmaker Geert Wilders, the leader of the Party for Freedom that won last year’s general election in the Netherlands. The court on Monday found Muhammad Ashraf Asif Jalali guilty of attempting to provoke murder and incite Wilders’ murder with a terrorist intent and issuing threats. He was sentenced to 14 years. The court also convicted Saad Rizvi, who leads the radical Islamist Tehreek-e-Labaik Pakistan for incitement to murder and threatening Wilders. He was sentenced to four years. Wilders welcomed the verdicts and sentences as sending an important message that such threats can’t be made with impunity.