AMSTERDAM, 27 July 2005 — Judges yesterday handed down a maximum life sentence to the Dutch-born Muslim who shot, stabbed and nearly decapitated filmmaker Theo van Gogh, denouncing his “glorification of violence” and intent to undermine the Netherlands’ free society.

The punishment, with no hope of parole, is rarely invoked in the Netherlands.

Mohammed Bouyeri, 27, was convicted of murdering Van Gogh on Nov. 2 and of the attempted murder of two bystanders and eight policemen during the subsequent shootout.

“The defendant rejects the democratic system in its entirety,” said presiding Judge Udo Willem Bentinck, citing Bouyeri’s lack of remorse and his boast that he would kill again if set free.

“Society must receive the maximum protection from this defendant. That is why only one punishment is fitting, a lifelong prison sentence,” Bentinck said.

Bouyeri seemed unfazed by the verdict, looking relaxed as he shook his lawyer’s hand and strolling out of the courtroom with his guards. Bouyeri has two weeks to lodge an appeal but has said he hoped to receive the maximum punishment, preferably death, in his quest for martyrdom.

Wearing a black-and-white checkered headscarf, he had remained seated when the judges filed into the high-security courtroom in a show of disdain for the non-Islamic proceedings.

Born and raised in Amsterdam by Moroccan parents, Bouyeri wrote a column for a neighborhood newspaper, but became increasingly radicalized in the last two years and repeatedly had run-ins with the police.

He was associated with other young Muslims whom the intelligence services accused of plotting terrorist actions, in what has become known as the Hofstad Network, but the court acquitted him on charges of operating as part of a terrorist cell.

Though dozens of others have been acquitted of terrorism or released, their high-profile trials have cast light on a growing underclass of Dutch-born Muslims who sympathize with militants.

The verdict was the first to apply Dutch terrorism laws enacted after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks in the United States.

Bouyeri murdered Van Gogh on a busy Amsterdam street during the morning rush hour, shooting him seven times before slitting his throat down to his spinal cord. He pinned a note to Van Gogh’s corpse with a blade, threatening the country and politicians with further attacks.

One of those threatened was Ayaan Hirsi Ali, a Somali-born politician who collaborated with Van Gogh on a short televised film that criticized the treatment of women in some Muslim homes. Hirsi Ali went into hiding for months after the murder.

“You can’t get away with this,” the judge quoted a witness as telling Bouyeri at the scene. Bouyeri responded: “Yes I can, and now you know what the future will bring.”

He then calmly reloaded his automatic pistol and went in search of police officers before he was arrested. Two bystanders were hit by stray bullets, but were not seriously wounded, and Bouyeri was shot in the leg.

The killing led to dozens of arson attacks against Islamic schools and mosques.