Dutch man jailed over Saudi embassy shooting

THE HAGUE: A man who fired shots at the Saudi embassy in the Netherlands last year was handed four years in jail on Friday, but judges said he had no terror motive.

The 41-year-old, only identified as Mohamed A., shot 29 times with a Glock pistol at the embassy in The Hague early on November 12 last year. Nobody was hurt but a security guard is said to still be traumatised.

"The court therefore sentences him to four years in prison," The Hague District Court’s judges said in a statement. But the judges disagreed with prosecutors, who said Mohammed A. had a terror motive for the attack.

"He was unhappy with the way the Saudi embassy was dealing with a deep-rooted wish for him to emigrate to Makkah and Madinah," the judges said, adding that he suffered from psychological problems including "delusions of grandeur with religious undertones".