AMSTERDAM (Reuters) – A Dutch court said it convicted two Pakistani political leaders on Monday of making calls for the murder of anti-Muslim lawmaker Geert Wilders, though both are thought to be abroad and are unlikely to serve their sentences.
Wilders, whose party joined government for the first time this year after a clear election victory, has lived under tight security for the past 20 years due to death threats.
One 56-year-old man, described as a political and religious leader from Pakistan, was sentenced to 14 years for attempted and actual incitement and threats to murder with terrorist intent, the District Court of The Hague said in a statement.
The court did not name him or the other man or go into more detail on their political activities. Both were sentenced in their absence.
A 29-year-old “political leader” from Pakistan was sentenced to four years for incitement and threats to murder, the court added.
In February, a court had said the two men had been accused of publicly calling on people to kill Wilders and promising them a reward in the afterlife if they did so.
In September last year, a Dutch court sentenced a Pakistani former cricketer to 12 years in prison after he was tried, also in absentia, for publicly urging people to kill Wilders.
The Netherlands has no extradition treaty with Pakistan.
(Reporting by Benoit Van Overstraeten; Editing by Andrew Heavens)
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