Dutch court jails man over pre-dawn gunfire at Saudi Embassy

THE HAGUE, Netherlands — A Dutch tribunal connected Friday imposed a 4-year situation condemnation connected a 41-year-old antheral convicted of attempted execution for firing gunshots astatine the Saudi embassy successful The Hague past twelvemonth aft helium was refused a visa to question to Mecca.

The man, whose individuality was not released successful enactment with Dutch privateness rules, utilized an automatic limb to occurrence 29 shots into the embassy gathering successful the aboriginal greeting hours of Nov. 12, 2020, his 40th birthday. Nobody was hurt.

According to prosecutors, the suspect was hopeless to marque a pilgrimage to the Islamic beatified tract Mecca, an important constituent of the Muslim faith.

A information defender was contiguous astatine the clip of the attack. The tribunal recovered the antheral blameworthy of attempted murder, arsenic helium was alert that the gathering was guarded, adjacent during hours erstwhile the embassy was closed.

Prosecutors had besides charged him with committing a violent enactment and asked for a ten-year sentence, but the tribunal said determination was nary grounds helium was trying to scare the Dutch population.

The onslaught near the embassy riddled with slug holes. The fishy had antecedently been fined for defacing the building.