Category Archives: Netherlands

Wilders’ lawyer again asks for judges to be replaced

Posted on by Bob Pitt

MP Geert Wilders’ defence asked the district court in Amsterdam on Friday to prosecute Islam expert Bertus Hendriks for perjury. When the court refused this demand, the defence asked for the judges to be replaced.

Bram Moszkowicz, Wilders’ lawyer, wanted an investigation of perjury launched against Hendriks. The lawyer stated that Hendriks made a statement as witness in the case on Friday morning that was in conflict with an earlier commentary that he gave in De Pers newspaper on the now notorious “dinner” on 3 May 2010.

A dinner club met on 3 May last year, of which Hendriks was a member. Fellow Islam expert Hans Jansen was also invited to it. Jansen already appeared on Thursday as a court witness and stated that Judge Tom Schalken tried to convince him at the dinner table that Wilders must be convicted.

Hendriks was the person who invited Jansen to the dinner. “That he was an expert witness in the case seemed interesting to us,” Hendriks said earlier in De Pers. But on Friday, he said in the court that there was no connection whatever with the Wilders case.

Hendriks thereby committed perjury, said Moszkowicz. But the court rejected this request to launch an investigation. The lawyer then asked for the judges to be replaced for alleged bias.

Moszkowicz earlier already requested for new judges twice. He failed once but got his way the second time. It was still unclear on Friday evening whether the new request would be honoured.

NIS News, 16 April 2011

Dutch Catholic schools ‘can ban headscarves’ court rules

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Imane MahssanCatholic schools are allowed to forbid Islamic pupils to wear headscarves. Such an item of clothing is in conflict with the Christian principles of the institution, which are protected by freedom of education, a district court in Haarlem ruled yesterday.

Don Bosco College, a Catholic secondary school in Volendam, forbade a 15 year old pupil, Imane Mahssan, to wear a headscarf. The girl then took the school to court, but has now lost the case.

According to the judges, the headscarf ban fits into the Catholic character of the school, whereby different expressions of faith are not allowed. The judge considers that the headscarf ban does not restrict freedom of expression and that the school is not discriminating on the basis of religion.

Don Bosco College introduced the headscarf ban last September, a few months after Imane had made a request to wear one. Because the girl received no response to her request for months, she started to wear the headscarf.

Don Bosco College said the school may not have indicated any headscarf policy in response to Imane’s request, but it was already in the school rules that pupils must respect the Catholic basis of the school. This was of importance in the ruling by the Haarlem court.

Earlier, the girl’s case was in fact upheld by the Equal Treatment Commission (CGB). This advisory court only makes non-binding rulings, though the courts usually do adopt the CGB conclusions.

NIS News Bulletin, 5 April 2011

See also RNW which reports: “Geert Wilders, leader of the anti-Islam Freedom Party, has been quick to congratulate the school on the verdict. On Twitter he wrote: ‘A just ruling! I hope many Christian schools will follow this example’.”

‘Son of Fitna’ loses Wilders votes

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Support for Geert Wilders’ far right Freedom Party has dropped by an equivalent of two seats in parliament, according to an opinion poll by Maurice de Hond’s peil.nl. The poll comes after Mr Wilders announced he would be making a sequel to his controversial anti-Islam film Fitna.

The two notional seats have shifted to the largest party on the right, Prime Minister Mark Rutte’s VVD. Freedom Party voters appear to be less enthusiastic about Fitna than they are about Mr Wilders other political ideas and proposals, say the pollsters. The percentage of Freedom Party voters who say they would vote for the party again has dropped to 79 percent, the lowest level in the polls since 2006.

Mr Wilders would win 24 seats in the 150-seat parliament if an election were held now, according to the poll. In fact this is the number of seats his party now actually holds – in the polls his popularity had risen since the last election. Senior coalition partner the VVD would gain two seats, three more than it currently holds.

On 1 April Mr Wilders announced he would be making Fitna II in 2012, about “the barbaric life of the sick mind of Muhammad”. Sixty-five percent of Freedom Party voters said they approved of the proposed Fitna sequel. However, the move only had the backing of 22 percent of those surveyed in total. Fifty-eight percent thought the new film would harm the Netherlands’ position internationally.

RNW, 3 April 2011

Wilders announces second anti-Islam film

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Freedom Party leader Geert Wilders is planning to make a follow up to his anti-Qur’an film Fitna. This time he will focus on the Muslim prophet Mohammed.

The controversial MP announced on Friday that his film on “the barbaric life and the sick mind of Mohammed” will come out in 2012.

RNW, 1 April 2011

I’ve lost count of the number of times Wilders has announced a follow up to Fitna. He first did so two years ago and said it would be out in 2010.

Geert Wilders denounces Prophet as ‘insane, paedophile, rapist murderer’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

EDL England Needs a GertGeert Wilders has stepped up his anti-Islam rhetoric by describing the Prophet Mohammed as an “insane, paedophile, rapist murderer” just two weeks before the opening of his trial on charges of inciting race hatred.

The leader of hard-Right Dutch Freedom Party will be prosecuted in an Amsterdam court on April 13 for previous comparisons of Islam to Nazism. On Thursday he fuelled the controversy surrounding his anti-Muslim politics and trial by publishing an article citing academics who accuse Islam’s founder of crimes ranging from child rape to murder.

“The historical Mohammad was the savage leader of a gang of robbers from Medina. Without scruples they looted, raped and murdered,” Mr Wilders claimed in the Dutch magazine HP/De Tijd.

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Wilders’ inciting hatred court case will go ahead, judges say

Posted on by Bob Pitt

The court case against anti-Islam campaigner and MP Geert Wilders will go ahead as planned, the three judges hearing the case said on Monday.

Wilders’ legal team had tried to have the case dropped on a number of legal grounds.

But while agreeing the case, based on charges of inciting hatred and discrimination will continue, Wilders should not be charged with comparing Islam to fascism, the judges said.

Dutch News, 30 March 2011

The failure of multiculturalism and how to turn the tide – according to Geert Wilders

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Geert Wilders extremistGeert Wilders was invited to deliver the annual lecture at the Magna Carta Foundation in Rome on 25 March. His speech can be found on the PVV website, and has been enthusiastically reproduced at Jihad Watch, Atlas Shrugs, Winds of Jihad and other rabidly Islamophobic blogs. The British National Party in London are fans too, as indeed is the BNP’s former legal adviser Lee Barnes.

Most of the content of Wilders’ speech is predictable. You know the sort of thing. Islam is plotting to conquer Europe (“Islam strives for world domination. The koran commands Muslims to exercise jihad and impose shariah law”) and the left has made a conscious decision to facilitate this takeover through its embrace of multiculturalism. According to Wilders:

“Leftist multiculturalists are cheering for every new shariah bank, for every new islamic school, for every new mosque. Multiculturalists consider Islam as being equal to our own culture. Shariah law or democracy? Islam or freedom? It doesn’t really matter to them. But it does matter to us. The entire leftist elite is guilty of practising cultural relativism. Universities, churches, trade unions, the media, politicians. They are all betraying our hard-won liberties.”

And not just the left. According to Wilders, “the establishment parties of the Right still harbour their belief that Islam is a religion of peace on a par with peaceful religions such as Christianity, Judaism, Buddhism and others”. Whereas, in Wilders’ opinion, “the truth is that Islam is evil, and the reality is that Islam is a threat to us”.

Wilders offers his solutions. “First, we will have to defend freedom of speech” (except of course when freedom of speech is used to attack Wilders himself). We must abandon cultural relativism, resist the encroachment of sharia law, “forbid the construction of new mosques” and strengthen the powers of the nation state in order to “stop immigration from Islamic countries”, while existing communities of recent migrant origin “must assimilate and adapt to our values”.

One proposal that hasn’t been heard from Wilders before, so far as we know, is to support and celebrate Muslims who decide to renounce their faith. Wilders states:

“An International Women’s Day is useless in the Arab world if there is no International Leave Islam Day. I propose the introduction of such a day in which we can honor the courageous men and women who want to leave Islam. Perhaps we can pick a symbolic date for such a day and establish an annual prize for an individual who has turned his back on Islam or an organization which helps people to liberate themselves from Islam.”

You might wonder whether this opens up the possibility of co-operation between Wilders and Maryam Namazie, who has played a prominent role in the campaign to encourage Muslims to abandon their faith. At any rate, it looks to me like Namazie and her Council of Ex-Muslims would be worthy recipients of Wilders’ prize. Wilders could also consider approaching Johann Hari, who might well be interested supporting this initiative – particularly if it involves his hero Ehsan Jami, who was expelled from the Dutch Labour Party for co-authoring an anti-Islam article with Wilders and has since joined the PVV.

Anti-Islam MP fails to block Amsterdam trial

Posted on by Bob Pitt

A trial against Dutch MP Geert Wilders for hatemongering can go ahead after objections were brushed aside by the Public Prosecutor.

Mr Wilders’ lawyer Bram Moszkowicz had argued that his client was being accused of far more than was included in the formal charges, which mention hatemongering, discrimination and insulting a section of the population, public broadcaster NOS reports.

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Ban the Muslim veil, says Dutch MP

Posted on by Bob Pitt

MP Jeanine Hennis from the ruling free-market liberal party VVD is calling for a ban on wearing Muslim headscarves by public servants. The politician says that all religions are equal in her eyes and that the ban should include all religious symbols.

Ms Hennis made her comments in an interview with freesheet De Pers. “When do you wear the headscarf? I’d like to instigate a debate on the matter – an open discussion on the separation between church and state,” she said. The VVD MP said she’d also like universities and schools to participate in the debate but that the Christian parties stand in the way of bringing the subject into the open. “They regard it as an infringement on freedom of religion,” she added.

RNW, 15 March 2011

See also Dutch News, 15 March 2011

Wilders’ lawyer seeks end to hate speech trial

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Dutch anti-Islam MP Geert Wilders’ lawyer asked judges on Monday to throw out his client’s hate speech trial arguing that neither they nor the prosecution had jurisdiction in the case. “I ask you to declare the prosecution not competent,” defence lawyer Bram Moszkowicz told the Amsterdam district court in a hearing the public broadcaster streamed live on the Internet.

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