A Dutch court today sentenced the self-confessed killer of Dutch film-maker Theo Van Gogh to life imprisonment today.
Mohammed Bouyeri (27) had mounted no defence at his two-day trial in Amsterdam earlier this month for the murder on November 2nd of Van Gogh - whom he accused of insulting Islam - and told the court he would do it again if given the chance.
Presiding Judge Udo Willem Bentinck said life was the only fitting punishment for a crime which sought to undermine Dutch democracy and the political system.
It is the harshest sentence possible for a murder that stunned the country, heightened ethnic tensions and raised concerns about homegrown Islamic terrorism.
Mohammed Bouyeri
Bouyeri, wearing a black and white headscarf, showed no emotion as he shook his lawyer's hand following the verdict. Earlier he told the court he had intended to die in the action and become a martyr for his faith.
Mr Bentinck said the three-judge panel had concluded there was no possibility for Bouyeri to return to society, citing his lack of remorse and the likelihood he would never change his radical views.
Bouyeri has two weeks to lodge an appeal, but that appeared unlikely.
He was convicted of the murder, described in the judgment as a terrorist attack; the attempted murder of bystanders and police officers; illegal possession of firearms and impeding the work of a member of parliament, Ayaan Hirsi Ali, whom he had threatened to kill in a letter impaled in Van Gogh's chest.
Bouyeri ambushed the filmmaker on an Amsterdam street, shot him repeatedly, stabbed him and slit his throat before thrusting his manifesto into his chest on the point of a knife.
Witnesses said he was so calm "it looked like he was out walking his dog," the judge said, describing the murder and the subsequent shoot-out with police.
The judgment said Bouyeri had shown "a complete disregard for human life" in killing the controversial artist.
In his earlier court appearance, Bouyeri said he had acted in the name of Islam and felt no pain for Van Gogh's family. "What moved me to do what I did was purely my faith," he told the court.
AP