Man who stabbed tourists in Amsterdam was motivated by ‘insults to Islam’: Prosecutors

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.

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.

Dutch police officers point their guns at a wounded 19-year-old man who was shot by police after stabbing two people in the central railway station in Amsterdam on August 31, 2018. (AP Photo)

The man, identified by Dutch media as Jawed S., is a 19-year-old Afghan with residency in Germany, who travelled 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, cancelled 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.