Disgraced cricketer places bounty on head of Geert Wilders

The money will be given to anyone who “kills the Dutchman”.

There were 331 threats against politicians in 2017 – about the same number of death threats that Wilders received in recent weeks, after he announced a Mohammed cartoon contest in the Dutch House of Representatives. The contest will take place inside the high-security PVV offices within parliament later this year.

The 26-year-old has meanwhile been arrested at The Hague’s main railway station after placing a video on Facebook in which he describes an attack either on the parliamentary complex or the organiser of the cartoon competition, police have confirmed.

According to Voice of America, some 3000 protesters in Pakistan’s capital, Islamabad, pelted the Dutch embassy with stones. Protesters say the contest is blasphemous.

Wilders noted on Twitter that he had been made aware of the film by the Dutch counter-terrorism unit NCTB. “The NCTB told me this morning that a man had said in a Facebook film he had arrived in the Netherlands to kill me.”

The police were alerted to the film, which was made at a branch of the Doner Company at the railway station on Monday. In the video, which is in Urdu, the man reportedly states: “I am just five minutes from parliament where the exhibition is.”

According to broadcaster NOS, he then adds: “Only he is my target. I will succeed if that is what Allah wants… they make jokes about our prophet.” He then appeals to people to share the video.

The cricketer will appear in court for a remand hearing on Friday. NOS says Latif is extremely active on social media and has traveled widely in Europe over the past few months.

Wilders has said that more than 200 entries have been received for the contest, which will be judged by American cartoonist Bosch Fawstin.

The Islamist party, Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP), has demanded that Islamabad break diplomatic ties with the Netherlands, and says that “strict measures should also be taken against the US” because the judge of the contest is an American.

The Pakistani Senate has recommended that a formal complaint be lodged with the Dutch embassy in the country. They also want to take the issue to the United Nations.

A resolution, which was signed by leaders of Pakistan’s political parties, accuses Wilders of “inciting hatred, racial prejudice, unrest, conflict and insecurity in a world that has already seen much bloodshed, racism, extremism, intolerance and Islamophobia”, Pakistani English-language newspaper The News International reported.

“Since under the Constitution of Pakistan, 1973, Islam is the state religion and it is the responsibility of the State to preserve, protect and promote Islam, therefore, it must stand up and articulate the general will of the Muslims of Pakistan against the proposed competition,” the resolution adds.

New Prime Minister Imran Khan says he will campaign for a global ban on cartoons of Islam’s Prophet Muhammad.

Pakistani cricketer Khalid Latif, who was banned from cricket for 5 years for his role in the spot-fixing during Pakistan Super League 2017, places Rs. 3 million bounty on the head of the blasphemer Dutch MP Geert Wilders pic.twitter.com/p3zpqnxHhs

— SAMRI (@SAMRIReports) August 27, 2018