12-Year Prison Sentence for Pakistani Who Incited Murder of Dutch Leader

A Dutch court has handed down a 12-year prison sentence on Monday to former Pakistani cricketer Khalid Latif, who was tried in absentia for inciting the murder of far-right Dutch leader Geert Wilders. The court ruled that statements made by Latif, 37, amounted to incitement to murder, sedition, and threats. Latif lives in Pakistan and did not attend any of the trial sessions, nor was he detained by authorities in the Netherlands. The prosecution stated that there are no existing treaties between the Netherlands and Pakistan regarding judicial cooperation or the extradition of criminals, and previous requests for cooperation in this case received no response. The court noted that the prosecution proved Latif published a video in 2018 offering a reward of three million rupees (approximately 21,000 euros at the time) for killing Wilders. The video was released during protests in Pakistan against Wilders following his announcement of a competition to draw caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad, which was subsequently canceled.