A Dutch court prolonged the pre-trial detention of a man suspected of making threats against far-right lawmaker Geert Wilders, who has organized a contest of cartoons of the Islamic prophet Mohammad, the Dutch Public Prosecution Service said in a statement on Thursday.
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 30th August, 2018) A Dutch court prolonged the pre-trial detention of a man suspected of making threats against far-right lawmaker Geert Wilders, who has organized a contest of cartoons of the Islamic prophet Mohammad, the Dutch Public Prosecution Service said in a statement on Thursday.
The 26-year-old man was detained in the Netherlands earlier in the day. The investigators believe he had published a video on Facebook containing threats to kill Wilders over the contest he had organized.
"The judge prolonged the preliminary detention for 14 days ... [The detained] is not allowed to contact anyone save his lawyer," the statement read.
The prosecutors said that the suspect had a Pakistani passport with him when he was detained.
Wilders' Party for Freedom (PVV) announced the contest in June. The decision to hold the contest was reportedly made after the party received an approval from the Dutch National Coordinator of Counterterrorism and Security (NCTV).
The move prompted criticism from officials and public both inside and outside the Netherlands. Particularly, rallies against the contest have recently taken place in Pakistan. Moreover, the Asian country's parliamentarians reportedly adopted a resolution condemning the competition.
The Dutch government distanced itself from the contest with Prime Minister Mark Rutte saying the competition was provocative rather than raising debate about Islam. Meanwhile, Justice and Security Minister Ferdinand Grapperhaus said that such a competition should not be prohibited in a democratic country.
In islam, drawing living creatures is prohibited so Muslims refrain from drawing prophet Muhammad other any other religious figures. Previous campaigns which included drawing of prophet Muhammad have been met with threats from Muslims, including Islamic extremists. Moreover, in 2015, terrorists conducted a deadly attack on the office of the French weekly Charlie Hebdo which had published caricatures of prophet Mohammad.
