Man fined for death threat against Dutch right-winger Wilders

Man fined for death threat against Dutch right-winger Wilders Amsterdam - A Dutch court Friday fined a man for sending a death threat to controversial right-wing politician Geert Wilders.

The man, who has not been named, emailed Wilders with a message "We will get you, Kalashnikov AK-47."

Wilders, the leader of the far-right Party for Freedom (PVV), hit headlines worldwide last year for his film Fitna, harshly critical of Islam.

The man was fined 385 euros (516 dollars) by the court in Amsterdam, with the judge declaring that noone had a right to threaten a politician because of their policies.

Wilders is himself currently being investigated by the Dutch public prosecutor on a possible charge of inciting hatred.

His PPV party has becoming increasingly popular in the Netherlands, which has a large Muslim and immigrant minority, and where Islam has become a highly-charged, even lethal, political issue.

In 2003, the polemical Dutch film-maker Theo Van Gogh was killed on an Amsterdam street in broad daylight by a Muslim extremist, after making an anti-Islam film called Submission.

Earlier this month Wilders announced he would make a follow up film to Fitna.

"We have to attack more, go on the offensive. We have to fight back," the paper quoted him as saying. Wilders also said the new film would not be a copy of Fitna.

Wilders has previously called Islam a "backward culture" and has repeatedly referred to the Koran as a "fascist book."

Recent polls have put his PVV party in third place, behind the Christian Democrats and Labour. (dpa)

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