AMSTERDAM: A Dutch court sentenced a former Pakistani cricketer to 12 years in prison on Monday after he was tried in absentia for urging people to murder Dutch far-right leader Geert Wilders.
The court ruled that the statement by 37-year-old Khalid Latif — who lives in Pakistan and has not attended any stage of the trial or been detained in the Netherlands — should be regarded as incitement to murder, sedition and threat.
Prosecutors said Latif posted a video in 2018, offering a reward for the murder of Wilders. That video came after Wilders said he planned to hold a contest for cartoons depicting caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him). The competition was later canceled.
Images of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) are forbidden in Islam as a form of idolatry. Caricatures are regarded by most Muslims as highly offensive.
Reuters was not immediately able to reach Latif — who received a five-year ban from cricket in 2017 over a spot-fixing scandal — for comment. Latif, 37, captained the Pakistan team in the 2010 Asian Games.
