Outrage: Dutch court to prosecute Wilders for Fitna

I stand with Geert Wilders

For hate speech -- after declining to do so last year, which means that Islamic supremacist groups in the Netherlands have kept up the pressure on lawmakers until they got the outcome they wanted. Hate speech, of course, is in the eye of the beholder, and hate speech laws are tools in the hands of the powerful that they can use to silence the powerless and crush dissent.

And make no mistake: even though the Muslims in the Netherlands and elsewhere in the West present themselves as embattled victims of racism and "Islamophobia," that is exactly what is going on here: this is just one part of the 57-government Organization of the Islamic Conference's efforts to silence speech that they deem critical of Islam -- including "defamation of Islam" that goes under the "pretext" of "freedom of expression, counter terrorism or national security."

If they succeed in doing this, we will be rendered mute, and thus defenseless, in the face of the advancing jihad and attempt to impose Sharia on the West -- in fact, one of the key elements of the laws for dhimmis is that they are never critical of Islam, Muhammad, or the Qur'an, so this initiative not only aids the advance of Sharia in the West, but is itself an element of that advance.

The enemies of free speech are closing in, and we have to stand together now and defend it. Everyone who loves freedom and wants to resist the straitjacket of groupthink and the totalitarian imposition of Sharia norms should stand with Geert Wilders now. I hope Wilders will relocate to the United States, and carry on the fight for truth and freedom here, in what could be their last redoubt.

"Islam film Dutch MP to be charged," from the BBC, January 21 (thanks to all who sent this in):

A Dutch court has ordered prosecutors to put a right-wing politician on trial for making anti-Islamic statements.

Freedom Party leader Geert Wilders made a controversial film last year equating Islam with violence and has likened the Koran to Adolf Hitler's Mein Kampf.

"In a democratic system, hate speech is considered so serious that it is in the general interest to... draw a clear line," the court in Amsterdam said.

Mr Wilders said the ruling was a "black day for me and for freedom of speech".

"I am shaken. I had absolutely not expected it," he told the Dutch news agency, ANP.

'Fascist book'

In March 2008, Mr Winders posted a film about the Koran on the internet.

The opening scenes of Fitna - a Koranic term sometimes translated as "strife" - show a copy of the holy book followed by footage of the bomb attacks on the US in 11 September 2001, London in July 2005 and Madrid in March 2004.

Pictures appearing to show Muslim demonstrators holding up placards saying "God bless Hitler" and "Freedom go to hell" also feature.

"Appearing to show"? These photos were real. The Muslim demonstrators really were holding such signs. But this wording from the relentlessly dhimmi BBC is just one indication of how bad things have gotten.

The film ends with the statement: "Stop Islamisation. Defend our freedom."

Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende said at the time that the film wrongly equated Islam with violence and served "no purpose other than to offend".

What has Balkenende ever said or done about the Muslims who continue to insist on equating Islam with violence?

When asked about the impact of his film, Mr Wilders said: "It's not the aim of the movie but people might be offended, I know that. So, what the hell? It's their problem, not my problem".

I have personally heard him sound much less cavalier and indifferent than this about this question, but ultimately that is immaterial. The whole purpose of free speech laws is to protect speech that the powerful find offensive, because it threatens their power. And that, as I explained above, is why this is happening.

He also once wrote in a national newspaper: "I've had enough of the Koran in the Netherlands: Forbid that fascist book."

Mr Wilders has had police protection since Dutch director Theo Van Gogh was killed by a radical Islamist in 2004.

Correspondents say his Freedom Party (PVV), which has nine MPs in the lower house of parliament, has built its popularity largely by tapping into the fear and resentment of Muslim immigrants.

Here is Fitna. Judge for yourself:

Find out why Fitna is not "hate speech," but simply the truth, here: my article "The Fitna Firestorm," which explains how the film merely quotes Qur'an verses and then shows Muslims acting out the violent imperatives of those verses.

UPDATE: Here is the complete ruling, via Rechtspraak.nl:

Amsterdam Court of Appeal orders the criminal prosecution of the Member of Parliament of the Dutch Second Chamber Geert Wilders

On 21 January 2009 the Court of Appeal in Amsterdam ordered the criminal prosecution of the member of parliament Geert Wilders for the incitement to hatred and discrimination based on his statements in various media about moslims and their belief. In addition, the Court of Appeal considers criminal prosecution obvious for the insult of Islamic worshippers because of the comparisons made by Wilders of the islam with the nazism.

So Wilders is being prosecuted by a Dutch court for insulting Islam. In this, Sharia has already triumphed.

The Court of Appeal rendered judgment as a consequence of a number of complaints about the non-prosecution of Wilders for his statements in various media about moslims and their belief. The complainants did not agree with the decision of the public prosecution which decided not to give effect to their report against Wilders.

I.e., "We bowed to pressure from Muslims."

The public prosecution is of the view, amongst others, that part of the statements of Wilders do not relate to a group of worshippers, but consists of criticism as regards the Islamic belief, as a result of which neither the self-esteem of this group of worshippers is affected nor is this group brought into discredit. Some statements of Wilders can be regarded as offending, but since these were made (outside the Dutch Second Chamber) as a contribution to a social debate there is no longer a ground for punishableness of those statements according to the public prosecution.

Their self-esteem is shattered, poor lambs. Read it all here.

See video: Pamela Geller interviews Wilders, linked here. I interview Wilders in six parts -- the first is here and you can find links to the rest there also.