Dutch seek long sentences over threats to anti-Islam politician Wilders

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Dutch prosecutors said on Monday they want prison sentences of up to 14 years against two men from Pakistan over public calls for the murder of far-right anti-Muslim leader Geert Wilders.

The Netherlands has no extradition treaty with Pakistan, making it unlikely that the men, who were absent from a court hearing in Amsterdam on Monday, will serve any sentence handed down to them by a Dutch court.

In a letter to parliament, the Dutch government said Pakistan had never responded to repeated calls for the extradition of the suspects. It said it would continue to press Islamabad on the matter.

The court said in February the two Pakistanis were suspected of publicly calling on people to kill Wilders and promising them a reward in the afterlife if they did so.

The court is expected to deliver its verdict against the defendants in absentia on Sept. 9.

Wilders, whose party joined government for the first time this year after a clear election victory, has lived under tight security for the past 20 years due to Islamist death threats.

In September last year, a Dutch court sentenced a Pakistani former cricketer to 12 years in prison after he was tried, also in absentia, for publicly urging people to kill Wilders.

(Reporting by Bart Meijer; editing by Benoit Van Overstraeten and Mark Heinrich)