Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) leader Hafiz Saad Hussain Rizvi and Dr. Muhammad Ashraf Jalali, head of the breakaway faction Tehreek-i-Labbaik Ya Rasool Allah, faced trial in absentia on Monday in a high-security court in the Netherlands. They were charged with allegedly inciting the murder of far-right, anti-Islam Dutch politician Geert Wilders.
Dutch prosecutors accused the 56-year-old Jalali of urging his followers to assassinate Wilders, promising them “rewards in the afterlife.” Rizvi is also under suspicion for encouraging his supporters to kill Wilders after Pakistani cricketer Khalid Latif was sentenced for inciting violence against the Dutch politician.
“This case has had a huge impact on me and my family,” Wilders said, dressed in a dark suit, white shirt, and maroon tie. He urged the court to send a strong message that issuing a fatwa in the Netherlands is unacceptable.
The trial was held in a secure courthouse near Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport. Dutch authorities had requested legal assistance from Pakistan to question the suspects and compel them to appear in court. However, no mutual legal assistance treaty exists between the two countries, and neither Rizvi nor Jalali appeared in court or had legal representation.
Threats
In September of the previous year, Khalid Latif was sentenced to 12 years in prison for inciting the murder of Wilders. This followed Wilders’ announcement of a competition in August 2018 to draw blasphemous caricatures of the Holy Prophet Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him). Wilders canceled the contest after it sparked protests in Pakistan and resulted in a flood of death threats. Since 2004, he has been under 24-hour state protection due to constant threats.
The Dutch judge, whose identity remains protected, noted that Wilders’ planned competition had caused significant unrest in the Muslim community, leading to hundreds, if not thousands, of death threats. The contest was widely condemned in the Netherlands as unnecessarily provocative.
Despite the cancellation, calls for Wilders’ assassination persisted. A Pakistani man was sentenced to 10 years in prison in 2019 for plotting to kill Wilders in response to the canceled contest.
Wilders told the court he organized the contest to assert the importance of freedom of speech in countries where it is legally protected. “For the past 20 years, I have been deprived of my freedom because of what I think, say, write, and do,” Wilders said. He emphasized that fatwas are particularly dangerous as they perpetuate ongoing threats to his life.
The public prosecutor requested a 14-year prison sentence for Jalali. The hearing for Rizvi was scheduled for later in the day, with a verdict expected on September 9.
The TLP is famous for organizing massive street protests over blasphemy allegations, often bringing cities to a standstill. The group mobilized tens of thousands of people after the Paris-based satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo republished blasphemous caricatures of the Holy Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) in 2020.
I am an experienced writer, analyst, and author. My exposure in English journalism spans more than 28 years. In the past, I have been working with daily The Muslim (Lahore Bureau), daily Business Recorder (Lahore/Islamabad Bureaus), Daily Times, Islamabad, daily The Nation (Lahore and Karachi). With daily The Nation, I have served as Resident Editor, Karachi. Since 2009, I have been working as a Freelance Writer/Editor for American organizations.
