Dutch court jails Van Gogh killer for life
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Dutch court jails Van Gogh killer for life
By Paul Gallagher and Wendel Broere
A Dutch court sentenced the self-confessed killer of a Dutch filmmaker
critical of Islam to life in jail on Tuesday, calling the murder a terrorist
attack which whipped up racial tensions in the Netherlands.
Mohammed Bouyeri, an Amsterdam-born Muslim, was convicted of killing Theo
van Gogh as he cycled to work on Nov. 2, 2004.
Van Gogh, a descendant of the brother of the 19th century painter Vincent
van Gogh, angered many Muslims by making a film which accused Islam of
condoning violence against women.
Judge Udo Willem Bentinck told the court that Bouyeri had shown no remorse
for a murder with "terrorist intent" intended to provoke widespread fear and
undermine Dutch democracy.
Bouyeri fired seven bullets into Van Gogh's body with a pistol in a busy
Amsterdam street in the morning rush hour, slashed his throat and plunged
two knives into his chest. He was later arrested after he was wounded in a
gun battle with police.
"Theo van Gogh was mercilessly slaughtered," the judge told a packed hearing
of Amsterdam District Court, guarded by heavily armed police. "The terrorist
attack on Theo van Gogh has prompted great feelings of fear and insecurity
in society."
Dressed in a gray robe and black and white headscarf, the 27-year-old
Dutch-Moroccan remained impassive as the judgment was read out in court. He
was the first person to be convicted under tough new anti-terrorism laws
introduced last year.
Bouyeri had wanted to die a martyr and regarded himself as an instrument of
Allah, the court was told. He killed Van Gogh because he regarded the
filmmaker as an "enemy of Islam."
POLICE GUN BATTLE
Bouyeri was also found guilty of the attempted murder of eight police
officers and two bystanders, the illegal possession of weapons and munitions
and of threatening Somali-born Dutch politician Ayaan Hirsi Ali in a note
pinned to Van Gogh's body.
Bouyeri was not found by judges to have acted in conjunction with others.
Twelve suspected Islamic militants arrested after the Van Gogh murder are
facing a separate trial on charges of membership of a terrorist group and
planning other attacks. A pre-trial hearing in that case is due in Rotterdam
on Wednesday.
Bouyeri confessed to the murder during his trial earlier this month and
waived the right to mount a defense, saying he had been motivated by his
religious convictions and would do the same again. The Dutch-Moroccan
praised Allah and carried the Koran in court in an earlier hearing.
Van Gogh's murder sparked a wave of attacks on mosques, religious schools
and churches in a country once renowned for its tolerance, and raised
questions about the integration of the almost 1 million Muslims living in
the Netherlands.
The five-page note left pinned to Van Gogh's body quoted the Koran and was
addressed to Hirsi Ali, who wrote the script for Van Gogh's film
"Submission" about violence against women. She went into hiding for weeks
after the murder and still lives under heavy guard.