A Dutch court docket on Monday sentenced former Pakistan worldwide cricketer Khalid Latif to 12 years in jail for urging the homicide of anti-Islam, far-right MP Geert Wilders.
Latif, 37, had provided 21,000 euros ($22,500) for the pinnacle of Wilders in a web based video after the firebrand lawmaker sought to rearrange a contest for cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed.
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“It was not a stretch to think that somebody around the world would have taken heed of the call to kill Mr Wilders,” presiding decide G. Verbeek advised the court docket.
“The accused knew this and his call fuelled the fire to have Wilders killed.”
It is extraordinarily unlikely that Latif, who was convicted in absentia, will serve his sentence.
Dutch authorities have sought in useless to query Latif over the case and requested authorized help from Pakistan, additionally to no avail.
“It’s a good sentence, but it’s a pity that the accused is not here in court,” Wilders advised reporters outdoors, sporting his trademark peroxide hairdo.
“It is no longer acceptable that the Pakistani authorities refuse to co-operate. I am going to ask the prime minister to ensure that Khalid Latif is arrested in Pakistan and extradited to the Netherlands.”
Wilders cancelled the cartoon contest after protests broke out in Pakistan and he was inundated with demise threats. He has been beneath 24-hour state safety since 2004.
In the Netherlands, the plan to stage the competition was criticised extensively with politicians, native media and strange residents slamming the thought as needlessly antagonising Muslims.
But the decision to kill Wilders appeared to resonate in the true world, with a Pakistani man sentenced to 10 years in jail in 2019 for plotting his assassination within the wake of the cancelled contest.
Judge Verbeek mentioned Latif’s video was not simply an assault on Wilders personally, but additionally on the idea of free speech within the Netherlands.
Latif performed 5 one-day internationals and 13 T20 internationals for Pakistan however was banned from cricket for 5 years in 2017 for spot-fixing in a Pakistan Super League match in Dubai.
His final Pakistan look was in opposition to the West Indies in Abu Dhabi in September 2016.
However, Verbeek mentioned that Latif had benefited from his fame as a world cricketer to “add oil to the fire” at a time when the Netherlands was already the goal of a number of threats.
Originally revealed as Ex-Pakistan cricketer Khalid Latif sentenced to 12 years jail for inciting homicide
Source: www.dailytelegraph.com.au
