Posted on July 14, 2005

‘I Don’t Feel Your Pain,’ Suspect Tells Victim’s Mom

Toby Sterling, AP, July 13

AMSTERDAM, Netherlands — The Muslim extremist on trial in the slaying of filmmaker Theo van Gogh confessed Tuesday, saying he was driven by religious conviction. “I don’t feel your pain,” he told the victim’s mother.

Mohammed Bouyeri stunned the courtroom when, in the final minutes of his two-day trial, he declared: “If I were released and would have the chance to do it again . . . I would do exactly the same thing.

“What moved me to do what I did was purely my faith. . . I was motivated by the law that commands me to cut off the head of anyone who insults Allah and his prophet,” he said.

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At one point, he addressed the victim’s mother, Anneke, who was sitting in the public gallery. “I have to admit I don’t have any sympathy for you,” he said. “I can’t feel for you because I think you’re a nonbeliever.”

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