Jawed Santani, a 20-year-old asylum seeker from Afghanistan had stated that he came to the Netherlands to "protect Prophet Mohammed" as he testified in court while facing charges for the stabbing attack on two US tourists with a knife, Dutch news agency ANP reported. He further elaborated that he wanted to "kill unfair and cruel people", who "make it possible for" the prophet to be insulted.
"I wanted to defend my religion and make it clear that my religion should be left alone. If you don't do that, you should be prepared for these kinds of actions", he said.
The incident, which happened on 31 August 2018, left two people injured. One of them had his spinal cord severely damaged and is now confined to a wheelchair. Santani was shot by the police officers, responding to the incident, and subsequently apprehended.
Several European states have seen a significant rise in the number of stabbing attacks on their streets of late, with many attacks by asylum seekers that came to Europe from the Middle East during the significant migrant influx since 2015.
Santani's attack was not the first attack in "defence" of the prophet. French satiric journal Charlie Hebdo, which published caricatures of Mohammed on several occasions, suffered a terrorist attack on its headquarters on 7 January 2015 that claimed the lives of 12 people. Al-Qaeda* in the Arabian Peninsula, claimed responsibility for the assault.
*al-Qaeda is a terrorist organisation banned in Russia