Remorseless Conviction

Mohammed Bouyeri's trial for shooting, stabbing and almost beheading Dutch filmmaker Theo van Gogh seemed a mere formality. The prosecutor's case was watertight and Bouyeri had instructed his lawyer not to act in his defense at last week's trial. These expectations were overturned when Bouyeri, 27, a Dutch citizen of Moroccan origin, made a surprise statement at the close of the trial. Clad in a black jellaba and Palestinian-style black-and-white kaffiyeh head scarf, Bouyeri aimed his words mainly at Van Gogh's mother, Anneke, who had expressed her anger and contempt for the defendant a day earlier.

Calmly, remorselessly,...