A Dutch court convicts 2 Pakistani men over death threats to anti-Islam lawmaker Geert Wilders

SCHIPHOL, Netherlands (AP) — A Dutch court convicted two Pakistani religious and political leaders in their absence Monday over calls to their followers to murder anti-Islam lawmaker Geert Wilders, the leader of the Party for Freedom that won last year’s general election in the Netherlands.

Wilders has lived under round-the-clock security for nearly 20 years due to the thousands of threats to his life following his outspoken criticism of Islam. His bodyguards and two armed military police sat in the courtroom for Monday’s hearing.

Neither of the defendants was in court to hear the verdicts. They are believed to be in Pakistan and are unlikely to be turned over as Pakistan has no extradition agreement with the Netherlands. Prosecutors said last week that requests they sent to Pakistani authorities seeking legal assistance to serve subpoenas on the two men were not executed.

The court found Muhammad Ashraf Asif Jalali guilty of attempting to provoke murder and incite Wilders’ murder with a terrorist intent and of issuing threats. He was sentenced to 14 years, in line with a sentence demand made last week by prosecutors.

The court said that Jalali is a religious leader whose website claims he has millions of followers around the world. It said his comments to his followers “infringed Wilders’ personal privacy very seriously,” and added that such threats “can also harm freedom of expression in general, while a democratic society benefits from being able to exchange opinions without physical danger.”

In the second case, the court convicted Saad Rizvi, who leads the radical Islamist Tehreek-e-Labaik Pakistan, or TLP, for incitement to murder and threatening Wilders. He was sentenced to four years, two years less than prosecutors