Of course, lots of e-mail yesterday about the sentence for Van Gogh’s killer, many arguing that the only option should have been the death penalty. Well, in Europe that route simply isn’t open even if the Dutch would want it as it would conflict with EU legislation that bars its member states from applying capital punishment.

Life without parole is a rarity in The Netherlands, only 30 such sentences have been handed out by the courts since 1954 of which 6 this year and 5 last year (!). This remarkable fact can either mean two things: there’s more violent crime in Dutch society today or, the call from society to engage in harsher sentencing has been heard by both prosecutors and judges. It’s most likely a combination of both, as well as the fact that under Dutch criminal law severe punishment is restricted to essentially two options: 20 years (effectively 13.4 years after parole, that’s what Fortuyn’s killer got) or life with nothing in between.

Anyway, capital punishment may create martyrs, but so do life sentences especially in the case of suicidal jihadists who believe that their survival was a sign from above that they have yet another mission to carry out on earth. Either scenario leads to martyr-like situations. In this case it is therefore crucial that Bouyeri’s incarceration is structured so that interactions with the outside world and other inmates are zero. Dutch press reports indicate that some form of solitary confinement is the indeed intention and we may end up with unique material to study for years to come and that is, given the circumstances, probably the best outcome.

But parole for Bouyeri may still be on the cards. Dutch criminal law for the last time applied death sentences (152 out of which only 40 were carried out) to Nazis and collaborators shortly after World War II and a number of them were commuted to life sentences. The last ones to remain in prison - two very unsavory characters – were paroled in 1989 after having completed some 44 years of their life sentence. So, don’t rule out the remote possibility that some abolitionist campaigners in 2049 will compellingly argue for the humane release of a 71-year old Muslim cleric named Mohammed Bouyeri.

NOTE: Bouyeri's lawyer yesterday confirmed on Dutch TV that an appeal was highly unlikely. He added that it was one of the most peculiar cases he had handled, particularly given the fact that someone who faced life without parole opted to not conduct a defense. A peculiar case from many different angles I would add.

UPDATE: Bouyeri is looking at more charges:

Dutch prosecutors said Wednesday they will charge the man jailed for life for murdering filmmaker Theo van Gogh as a member of an Islamic terror network believed to have plotted attacks against politicians.

The plans to charge Mohammed Bouyeri as a member of the Hofstad Network were revealed at a custody hearing for 11 other alleged members.