Former Pakistani international cricketer Khalid Latif was sentenced to 12 years in prison by a Dutch court for putting a €21,000 bounty on far-right politician Geert Wilders’ head.
“The court rules that the suspect’s statements … should be seen as an attempt to provoke murder, incitement and threats. The words used by the suspect are unambiguous: He promises a significant amount of money to perform a specific act, namely killing Wilders,” the District Court of The Hague ruled on Monday.
Latif offered the money to anyone who would carry out a hit on Wilders, prosecutors said, after the populist Party for Freedom chief devised a cartoon contest in 2018 calling on people to send in caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad.
The competition angered Muslims, as any depictions of Muhammad are considered blasphemous. In a social media clip, Latif promised 3 million Pakistani rupees to anyone who would kill “the person who planned this game,” adding, “If I had more, I would give it.”
At the time, Dutch PM Mark Rutte condemned the contest as provocative and underlined that Wilders was not part of the government. Wilders eventually canceled the competition.
Latif, who lives in Pakistan, was not present during the trial and did not employ a lawyer. This is the first time a court in the Netherlands has sentenced a non-Dutch person living abroad, according to local media. The Netherlands does not have an extradition treaty with Pakistan.
Wilders said on X, formerly Twitter, that he wants Rutte and Minister of Justice Dilan Yeşilgöz to pressure Pakistani authorities over the extradition and the arrest of Latif.
Neither Latif nor the Pakistani authorities have responded.
