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Gregorius Nekschot is quite the equal opportunity offender, having penned cartoons offensive to Catholics and Jews (e.g., Muhammad molesting Anne Frank) alongside his emphasis on lampooning Islam and Muhammad.
What did he get arrested for? Lampooning Islam and Muhammad. Thomas Landen at the Brussels Journal has the story:
The Dutch authorities have arrested the cartoonist Gregorius Nekschot (a pseudonym. Nekschot means deathblow, litt: “shot in the back of the neck” [An interview with Nekschot here]). The judicial authorities in Amsterdam said yesterday that the cartoonist was arrested as a suspect for the criminal offense of “publishing cartoons which are discriminating for Muslims and people with dark skin.”
Prior to the Islam-related complaint, the "dark skin" aspect doesn't seem to have mattered as much. And by the way, how does a cartoon discriminate?
The cartoonist was arrested on Tuesday, while the police searched his house for “discriminating evidence.” His computer, backups, usb sticks, mobile phone and a number of drawings were confiscated. Nekschot was released two days later but it is possible that he will be charged following a complaint in 2005 by the Dutch imam Abdul Jabbar van de Ven, an indigenous Dutchman who converted to Islam.
And the poor, offended imam is on record approving of Theo Van Gogh's murder.
According to the Dutch public prosecutor Nekschot “makes his profession” of drawing cartoons of “an insulting and/or discriminating nature.” Ernst Hirsch Ballin, the Dutch minister of Justice, a Christian-Democrat, said that it took the police three years to discover the real identity of the cartoonist.
Nekschot, a friend of the late Theo van Gogh, the Dutch film maker who was ritually slaughtered by a Muslim fanatic in 2004, hides his real identity in order to avoid unnecessary risks. Hans Teeuwen, a Dutch stand-up comedian and friend of Nekschot’s, told the Dutch media yesterday that the police had told Nekschot as they released him earlier that day that “he has now lost his anonymity.” Teeuwen said this was “a rather intimidating remark.”
As spokeswoman of Xtra, Nekschot’s publisher, said today: “He was arrested with a great show of force, by around 10 policemen.” The spokeswoman asked that her name not be used because the cartoonist and publisher have received death threats. Nekschot told the Dutch newspaper Het Parool today that police officers had told him: “What you draw is worse than what they did in Denmark. Do you realize what can happen to you if your identity gets known?” The cartoonist fears for his live if he is being sent to jail. “As the maker of those cartoons my life is in danger in prison,” he said.
Nekschot’s work is rude and often sexually explicit. As such it is characteristic for the Dutch liberal mentality and not beyond the limit in the Netherlands. In his cartoons, however, he mocks the multicultural society, and that does seem to be beyond all bounds.
Posted by Marisol at May 16, 2008 11:05 AM
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Stan de Jong, who wrote a book about the Theo van Gogh assasin, already described this as the worst day after 911, the van Gogh murder and the Pim Fortuyn murder.
The minister of justice, Hirsch Ballin, stated that it took 3 years to get to know the identity of Gregorius. Which is a damn lie because the Internet provider has only received this week a letter asking them to give the identity of the site owner.
Gordon
Posted by: Gordon Shandling![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.jihadwatch.org/dhimmiwatch/nav-commenters.gif)
at May 16, 2008 11:36 AM
So, it took 10 policemen to arrest 1 cartoonist!!!
I wonder who is pulling the strings in the Government there.
at May 16, 2008 11:50 AM
"discriminating evidence"
Apparently, "incriminating" evidence is no longer needed. For "discriminating" evidence is, without more, always and everywhere "incriminating."
Brave New World.
Bravo, Dutch government and police. Bravisssimo.
Posted by: Hugh at May 16, 2008 11:51 AM
Back to the Witch Hunting days in Europe. Really, the demise of freedom is just an arms length away, forget WWII where millions of people died to preserve the freedoms we enjoy and those who fight right now to preserve our freedoms, are under the gestapo or shall we say the sharia police.
Posted by: savsiv at May 16, 2008 12:03 PM
So raunchy sexually explicit cartoons are okay, but to mock the murderous 'religion of peace' inspired by their warlord pedophile prophet is an affront against society? Get a life!!
Holland will disappear into the sea when oceans rise and take its moronic mores down with it, if they had lost their will to survive against the marauding pedophile cult of Islamic Jihad.
Posted by: Battle_of_Tours at May 16, 2008 12:17 PM
@Ladywolfnl
"I wonder who is pulling the strings in the Government there."
The christian coalition partner (CDA) is the main driver and especially ministers Hirsh Ballin and Donner.
Posted by: Gordon Shandling at May 16, 2008 12:19 PM
This story is straight out of Saudi Arabia. Are the police doing this to prevent riots? Or are they giving in to the muslim majority in the cities, which seem to be running the country now.
Posted by: Borg at May 16, 2008 12:25 PM
Borg, being Dutch and (still) living in Holland this news really saddens me.
The christian coalition partner (CDA) is taking the opportunity given by the large groups of moslims to make the role of religion larger.
Even the death of Theo van Gogh was being abused to introduce laws against "hate crimes".
at May 16, 2008 12:34 PM
"And by the way, how does a cartoon discriminate?"
Marisol, my only guess is: a cartoon "discriminates", if everyone can't laugh at it. Or, maybe a cartoon discriminates, if everyone can't understand it.
Humorless people are dangerous. Deadly, even.
at May 16, 2008 12:58 PM
Gordon,
What kind of Christians or Democrats are these fools running Holland?
at May 16, 2008 3:16 PM
This is beyond a joke now. It seems that it is perfectly acceptable to insult anyone if you are a muslim but you cannot insult islam? We are being turned on by our own governments, they are actually defending people who openly call for murder whilst prosecuting people for INSULTING a religion, a set of beliefs with no actual basis in fact. That's ridiculous.
There is something here that goes far deeper that "community cohesion". It's a 1936 moment.
Posted by: DaveMate at May 16, 2008 5:06 PM
"and people with dark skin"
Do you think that could be a reference to Sudanese Christians/animists ?
Maybe Malaysian Hindus fleeing discrimination ?
I really shouldn't read this kind of thing on a Friday night it is so easy to spill my Israeli wine while laughing !!!!
Posted by: apostate_islam at May 16, 2008 5:37 PM
If the 'Islamsterdam' cartoon featured above is a typical sample of Nekschot's 'take' on Islam, it is really quite mild.
First, it is a clever portmanteau word.
What is more - it is perfectly true and accurate. It's no different from, say, the title of Melanie Philips' book 'Londonistan'.
Signpost riddled with bullet holes - well, we all know that Islam is violent, we keep hearing about bullets being fired into the air in Gaza, in Arab-occupied Judea and Samaria, and in Afghanistan.
And OK, the imam appears to be somewhat mentally deprived...well, we all know, from Tawfiq Hamid, that 'thinking' F-K-R {now *there's" potential for all sorts of wicked interlinguistic puns} is equated, in a classic Arabic proverb, with 'kafir', K-F-R or 'unbelief', and that one is supposed to leave one's brains behind at the door when entering allah's palace. One might also reflect upon the abundant evidence of the proliferation of what Hugh calls 'nonsense and lies', and what Martha Gellhorn dubbed 'mad-hattery', and what even Australia's ABC journalist David Hardaker could not avoid noticing, the penchant of the Middle East for conspiracy theories, each more bizarre than the one before it.
Unfortunately, too, the proportion of mentally retarded and otherwise physically damaged children born into 'palestinian' Arab and Pakistani Muslim families, and within Saudi Arabia, too, due to these societies' obsessive practice of first-cousin marriage generation after generation (perhaps fostered by the paranoia and disorder that Islam produces - they don't *trust* strangers enough, to marry their kids to 'strangers', even strangers who are fellow Muslims) is demonstrably higher than in other, less incestuous societies.
As for the knife between the teeth...what better way of visually expressing the nature and content of the murderous discourse that is regularly reported from imams, sheikhs, and mullahs, in MEMRI's invaluable translations? These guys' words *are* knives. Verse of the Sword, anyone?
Think of that preacher in a mosque in Iraq who whipped out a sword and swished it around during his 'sermon', at the end of 'Islam: What the West Needs to Know'; the same clip that featured in 'Fitna'?
This cartoonist's FRIEND, Theo van Gogh, was stabbed to death in broad daylight by a Muslim.
I think he therefore has a perfect right to draw a Muslim gripping a knife, pirate-style, between the teeth.
Nope: in this particular case, in this particular drawing, I don't see that he's slandering anyone. He is simply exposing the truth.
Posted by: dumbledoresarmy at May 16, 2008 8:52 PM
Dumbledoresarmy-- I don't know which of the cartoons (supposedly 8 or 9 of them) are supposed to be part of the case. That will be interesting to find out.
But one can easily find some of the more provocative ones (along with tamer ones like "Islamsterdam") by googling "Gregorius Nekschot," (also click the "Images" link there) or that name plus "Richard Dawkins," as commenters have posted an assortment at his site.
Posted by: MarisolJW at May 16, 2008 9:03 PM
Ten cops to arrest one cartoonist! Why can't the authorities muster a similar level of force to deal with rioting Moslems?
I'm beginning to wonder if a person who says anything critical of Islam in the Netherlands has more to fear from his government than from Islamic thugs.
at May 16, 2008 10:00 PM
Holland is toast.
Posted by: Jewel Atkins at May 17, 2008 3:53 AM
I went to the Gregorius Nekschot website yesterday while it was still up and running. A couple of hours later - presto! No website. It sure didn't take long to have it pulled down. His cartoons were funny, too. Some of them are still out there, if you google Gregorius Nekschot images.
Posted by: ImNoDhimmi at May 17, 2008 9:08 AM
"Nope: in this particular case, in this particular drawing, I don't see that he's slandering anyone. He is simply exposing the truth." ~ dumbledoresarmy
In today's brave new(speak) world, telling the truth is slander, especially when one tells the truth about the peaceful and loving islam which will cut off one's head for blasphemy. Which is why Mr. Spencer is constantly slandered for telling the truth, though his accusers claim that Mr. Spencer is the one guilty of slander -- slandering islam and muslims. "Brave New World" and "1984" all wrapped up into one neat, multi-culti package. With government enforcement of this new reality, of course.
Posted by: Rick at May 17, 2008 11:47 AM
The slide downhill begins. Next they'll be protesting against urinals facing in direction of Mecca. After a couple of arrests (10 cops for each one) good little Hollanders will sneak a quick peek at the compass before unzipping. This is not meant as a joke. WAKE UP!!! The easiest way to get someone bumped off in an Islamic country is to accuse him of "insulting Islam". Sooner or later some zombie from a madrassa will get rid of your enemy and you can sit back satisfied at a job neatly done. Until, that is, the enemy's relatives accuse you of shitting in Mecca's direction (too bad you were facing the other way 180 degrees this time. You can't win a verbal argument with a fanatic or a drunk).
Posted by: Hedgehog at May 17, 2008 12:48 PM
Truth telling, in these times, is a dangerous business.
"Hate Crimes" legislation is directly againt "Freedom of speech."
We, as a world, have begun to make "being offended" the greatest crime fo all.
With the loss of freedom of speech comes dictatorships and tyranny.
Europe is already down this path - some countries more than others. The Middle East, with the exception of Israel, is almost a paradigm of no free speech and absolute tyranny. Even the United States has begun already to follow suit - at least in govermental and academic institutions.
I hate to say it, but we deserve what we get. If the West is no longer willing to fight for our freedoms then maybe the human race does deserve to go extinct.
I've never been more concerned than I am now. We have turned our back on the notion of individual rights and liberties, we've scorned democracy and the will of the people, we've scorned Western civilization and culture, we've scorned morality and compassion, we've scorned capitalism, we've scorned ourselves.
If we don't start seeing politcal leaders that come forward - then the people must - before it is too late.
Doom and gloom I know, but really - I haven't seen any sign of hope from our goverment, or even a slight grasp of reality. If you look at WWII and how Germans went willy-nilly into the Nazi Regime - are we no different? First we pass "hate crimes," then we start rounding up the press, persons of expression - cartoonists, restricting school newspapers - what can or can-not be said in public.
This isn't fantasy - this is reality.
How soon until another Adolf Hitler - or a plurality of two-bit dictators arise in Europe and the rest of the world at large.
Even peacefully, demograpically, if enough of the population of the USA were opposed to the Constitution it could be amended to comply with Sharia law. It would, cease to be the constitution that we all know and cherish, but it would be the law of the land.
But our governments aren't opposing the ideology of Islam which is against democracy and freedom of speech. No, our governments are a bunch of King George's or worse. They are actively repressing their own peoples and siding with those that would destroy us.
Sad times, dreadful times.
Posted by: Monkeywho at May 17, 2008 1:19 PM
Theo Van Gogh at least was killed by an enemy of his people, not arrested by his own people.
Suicide in Dutch is zelfmoord.
National suicide is nationale zelfmoord.
Isn't Dutch easy?
Posted by: profitsbeard at May 17, 2008 7:49 PM
Monkeywho:
If you look at WWII and how Germans went willy-nilly into the Nazi Regime - are we no different? First we pass "hate crimes," then we start rounding up the press, persons of expression - cartoonists, restricting school newspapers - what can or can-not be said in public.
Indeed. But at no stage in Nazi Germany was there an announcement to the effect that the country was now under a totalitarian regime. Therein lies the deceit. At what stage do we conclude that we are living under a totalitarian regime? There is currently a steady erosion of liberties in certain Western countries, but it is gradual enough not to warrant much more than a shrug when the latest restriction on freedom is enforced.
Although we are still a long way from living under a totalitarian regime, I do remember a time when the UK Government listened to and served the majority. Now the Government panders to vociferous minorities - e.g when the police stood and watched Muslims calling for the death of those who insult Islam. Contrast this with the behaviour of the police here, here and here.
at May 19, 2008 6:02 AM
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