Man who stabbed American tourists in Amsterdam names Wilders, cites 'insults' to Islam

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - A man who stabbed two American tourists at Amsterdam’s central station last week named Dutch, anti-Islam lawmaker Geert Wilders during police questioning and said he was motivated by perceived insults to Islam in the Netherlands, prosecutors said on Monday. 

FILE PHOTO: View of Central train station of Amsterdam, Netherlands, December 1, 2017. REUTERS/Yves Herman/File Photo

The man, identified by Dutch media as Jawed S., is a 19-year-old Afghan with residency in Germany, who traveled to Amsterdam to carry out an attack because of what he said were repeated insults to God, the Koran and Islam’s Prophet Mohammed, prosecutors said in a statement. 

The attack came after Wilders, a far right campaigner against Islam, canceled plans to hold a competition last week of cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohammed and had a clear “terrorist motive”, prosecutors said. 

“He named Wilders, but did not say anything about the cartoon competition,” a statement said. “Up to now there is no evidence the suspect worked with others.” 

The victims, both 38-year-old men, are still being treated in hospital, while the stabber, who was shot and wounded by police, was also being treated while his custody was extended for two weeks on Monday. 

Prosecutors said that German police had searched the man’s home in Germany and seized computer memory devices.