mediawatchwatch.org.uk

Rather shocking news from the Netherlands. Dutch politician Geert Wilders is to be prosecuted for “hate speech” following the publication last year of his anti-Islam/immigration film Fitna.

A court in Amsterdam said,

In a democratic system, hate speech is considered so serious that it is in the general interest to… draw a clear line

Outrageous though this prosecution may be, it could do some good to shine a bright light on this issue.

Wilders cannot be convicted, if only because he is the author of only a tiny fraction of the script contained in his film. The vast majority – over 90%, and by far the most hateful portion – comes directly from the Koran and the mouths of imams.
[googlevideo]http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3369102968312745410[/googlevideo]
(Warning: unpleasant scenes)

UPDATE: (22 Jan) Oliver Kamm at Index on Censorship explains clearly why Wilders deserves our support:

Insisting on the right to offend religious believers may seem an unfeeling and uncaring doctrine. (The non sequitur that many Muslims in western societies are poor is often brought into the discussion at this point.) But the case for liberty has never been that it protects sensibilities. It is rather that by allowing people’s beliefs to be scrutinised, criticised and — yes — insulted, bad ideas are more likely to be superseded by better ones. Allowing ideas to die in place of their adherents is a mark of a civilised society. It is not hyperbole to say that in the defence of the unlikely figure of Geert Wilders lies also the defence of western civilisation.

And Islam is a really bad idea.