Geert Wilders and free speech

Free speech is under threat with the prosecution of politician Geert Wilders in The Netherlands for statements about Islam.

Britain's refusal to let him enter the country in February 2009 is an additional threat to freedom of speech.

US Republican Senator Jon Kyl then proceded to invite Geert Wilders to the USA to speak and show his film on 26 Feb 2009. Click here for story (and see below).

Overview

Geert Wilders is a Dutch politician who has spoken out against Islam. He produced a film called Fitna placing scenes of Islamic terrorist attacks alongside verses from the Qur'an.

Photograph: Geert Wilders - from his website.

His life is under threat because of his statements. Al Qaeda issued a fatwa against him.

In February 2008 the Dutch courts decided to put him on trial for inciting hatred.

In February 2009 the UK government refused to let him into the UK to speak to the House of Lords.

Member of Parliament - Geert Wilders
Geert Wilders was elected as a member of the Netherlands parliament in 1998 as a member of the VVD - the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy .

Prior to that he had been elected to the local Utrecht Council in 1997 as a member of the VVD.
Wilders left the VVD in September 2004 and formed his own political party, the PVV - the Party for Freedom.
Click here for an overview of his life on Wikipedia.

Geert Wilders' website is http://www.geertwilders.nl/
It contains news, articles and information about Geert Wilders - the film, the court case and the UK situation.

The film Fitna
Fitna is a 15 minute film that includes verses from the Qur'an and scenes of Islamic terrorist attacks.
Click here for the Wikipedia overview of the film.
Click here for the film's website.
Click here for the actual film.
It was originally loaded on Live Leak.

The court case in the Netherlands
Indicted in January 2009

Geert Wilders, producer of the short film Fitna, about Islam, has been indicted by a Dutch court for hate speech against Islam, because of the content of his film.
One of the reasons for the indictment . . . "The court also considers appropriate criminal prosecution for insulting Muslim worshippers because of comparisons between Islam and Nazism made by Wilders."
It seems they are overlooking the fact that the Mufti of Jerusalem travelled to meet Hitler and worked with him during World War 2. Click here for information on this.

Articles about the Dutch court case are at the BBC and Jihad Watch.
The article at the BBC site also has a 23 minute interview done by 'Hardtalk' with Geert Wilders in August 2008.

The invitation to visit the UK House of Lords
Two members of the House of Lords, Baroness Cox and Lord Pearson , invited Geert Wilders to visit the UK to show the film Fitna and speak to the Lords.

Lord Ahmed, a Muslim peer, complained about the visit.
This report was in the Brussels journal...
Muslims in the Lords
From the desk of Thomas Landen on Mon, 2009-01-26 - Brussels Journal.
"The House of Lords is a venerable British institution, but what does one get if one accepts Muslims in? This:
"A member of the Lords intended to invite her colleagues to a private meeting in a conference room in the House of Lords to meet the Dutch politician Geert Wilders, an elected member of the Dutch parliament, to watch his controversial movie Fitna and discuss the movie and Mr. Wilders' opinions with him.
Barely had the invitation been sent to all the members of the House when Lord Ahmed raised hell. . . "

The cancellation of the event was not initially covered by the UK press... but there was subsequently a lot of coverage...

Britain refuses to let Geert Wilders enter the country

Lord Ahmed wrote to the "Home Office, the leader of the House of Lords and Black Rod" asking them not to allow Wilders to enter the country.
The Home Secretary Jacqui Smith refused to let him enter the UK.

The Home Department wrote to Mr Wilders saying
"...You are advised that should you travel to the UK and seek admission an Immigration Officer will take into account the Secretary of State's view. If, in accordance with regulation 21 of the immigration (European Economic Area) Regulations 2006, the Immigration Officer is satisfied that your exclusion is justified on grounds of public policy and/or public security, you will be refused admission to the UK under regulation 19. You would have a right of appeal against any refusal of admission, exercisable from outside the UK..."

Responses to Britain's refusal to let Geert Wilders enter the country
Geert Wilders decided to go to the UK anyway. He did interviews on the plane and by phone whilst being detained at Heathrow Airport.

A full list of articles, comment etc is available on Geert Wilders' website - click here.

Lord Pearson and Baroness Cox released a joint statement following the decision by the government to ban Wilders.
They said they would show the film anyway, with or without him...
They say the film is available on the web, and it shows how militant Islamists have used the Qur'an to justify their violence.
Click here for their statement.

Here are two important commentaries on the situation...

Geert Wilders and the Fight for Europe
Does defending Western values constitute "inciting hatred"?
By Bat Ye'or, National Review Online, 16 Feb 2009.
"Britain has just witnessed the spectacle of a duly elected parliamentarian from another EU country, Geert Wilders of the Netherlands, being denied entry to the country because he constituted "a threat to public policy." Wilders, after being detained briefly at Heathrow, was sent back to Holland - where he has further legal troubles. Three weeks earlier, a Dutch appeals court had ordered prosecutors to begin criminal proceedings against Wilders for "inciting hatred and discrimination" and "insulting Muslim worshippers" through his public statements and his 2008 film, Fitna. The order to proceed with the criminal prosecution resulted from pressure put on European states and on the UN Human Rights Council by the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC). The OIC's aim is to punish and suppress any alleged Islamophobia, around the world but particularly in Europe, and it has been a leader in creating the conditions that made the U.K. 's Wilders ban possible..."

How Britain, the cradle of liberty, is sleepwalking towards cultural suicide
Daily Mail, 12th February 2009 - MELANIE PHILLIPS.
"If anyone had doubted the extent to which Britain has capitulated to Islamic terror, the banning of Geert Wilders should surely open their eyes.
Wilders, the Dutch member of parliament who had made an uncompromising stand against the Koranic sources of Islamist extremism and violence, was due to give a screening of Fitna, his film on this subject, at the House of Lords on Thursday.
This meeting had been postponed amid claims that Lord Ahmed had previously threatened the House of Lords authorities that he would bring a force of 10,000 Muslims to lay siege to the Lords if Wilders was allowed to speak.
Lord Ahmed denies this report and said his lawyers are investigating those he blames for spreading it.
To their credit, the Lords authorities had stood firm and said extra police would be drafted in to meet any threat and the Wilders meeting should go ahead.
But now the government has announced that it is banning Wilders from the country. . ."

However, Lord Ahmed is proclaiming that he is right!

Wilders' ban is in Britain's best interests
Nazir Ahmed - the Muslim peer who objected...
The Guardian, 13 February 2009.
"His film encourages violence from both extremist Muslims and far-right groups: despite abuse and threats, I stand by my actions.
"When I found out that Geert Wilders was planning to come to Britain and that Baroness Cox and Lord Pearson wanted to show his film, I wrote to the Home Office, the leader of the House of Lords and Black Rod to say that his presence would lead to the incitement of religious and racial hatred, which constitutes a public order offence.
"I pointed out that Wilders is already facing a serious charge in his home country for inciting racial hatred. Furthermore, Cox and Pearson could hardly use an argument for free speech to justify giving him this platform because Wilders himself is calling for the banning of the Qur'an. . . "

USA - Geert Wilders invited to USA to show his film
Following Britain's decision to ban Geert Wilders, US Republican Senator Jon Kyl then proceded to invite Geert Wilders to the USA to speak and show his film on 26 Feb 2009. Click here for story (and see below).

Meanwhile free speech is under threat....