A Dutch court sentenced a Pakistani man to 10 years behind bars on Monday for planning to assassinate anti-Islam politician Geert Wilders over his plan to hold a contest of blasphemous caricatures depicting the Holy Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). The man, identified as Junaid I by local media, was arrested in August 2018 at a train station in The Hague after he posted a film on Facebook in which he said he wanted to “send Wilders to hell” and urged others to help. Judges at The Hague’s district court found the 27-year-old man, who had travelled from France, guilty of “planning a murder with a terrorist motive” and “incitement to commit a terrorist deed”. “The suspect more than once said that Wilders’ death would be a good deed,” said presiding judge Jan van Steen, who added four years in jail to the six years sought by the prosecution. “Furthermore, the suspect wanted to commit the murder in one of the parliamentary buildings, the heart of Dutch democracy,” Van Steen said, adding, “The court is alarmed that the suspect… declared that this case will boost his image in Pakistan.” The suspect had denied any terror-related motives. He said during the trial that he was “peace-loving” and had only travelled to the Netherlands from France to protest against Wilders’ cartoon competition.
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