Banned from Britain, Dutch campaigner against Islam
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Geert Wilders, who leads the small Dutch Freedom Party, was due to show his controversial 17-minute film at an event in the House of Lords tomorrow, but was informed that he would not be allowed to enter the country
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A far-right Dutch MP whose film linking Islamic texts with the terror attacks on New York sparked protests around the Muslim world was last night banned from entering Britain.
Geert Wilders, who leads the small Dutch Freedom Party, was due to show his controversial 17-minute film at an event in the House of Lords tomorrow, but was informed yesterday by British officials that he would not be allowed to enter the country. The decision sparked an immediate diplomatic row after the Dutch Government pressed Britain to reverse the ban.
The film Fitna, which criticises the Koran as a "fascist book", sparked violent protests around the Muslim world last year. The film, which has been posted on the internet, juxtaposes images of the Koran with footage of the 9/11 twin tower attacks and other terrorist atrocities. Mr Wilders had been invited to show the film at an event in Westminster hosted by Lord Pearson of Rannoch, the former Conservative, who is now a UK Independence Party member of the House of Lords.
The film starts with an image of the hugely controversial cartoon of the Prophet Mohamed with a bomb as a turban that sparked global protests after it was printed in a Danish newspaper. The film then shows images of the 9/11 aircraft flying into the World Trade Centre, with quotes from calls to the emergency services from people inside the buildings.
It also contains images of bloodstained corpses following the 2004 Madrid rail bombings before showing gruesome images of beheadings and attacks. The film then shows statistics indicating a growing Muslim population in the Netherlands .
Last night, the Home Office refused to comment on Mr Wilders' case. But a spokesman said: "The Government opposes extremism in all forms. It will stop those who want to spread extremism, hatred and violent messages in our communities from coming to our country. That was the driving force behind tighter rules on exclusions for unacceptable behaviour that the Home Secretary announced in October last year."
Mr Wilders, who lives with round-the-clock security after receiving death threats, said a letter from the British embassy informed him he was being refused entry because his views "threaten community harmony and therefore public security" in the UK.
He condemned the British Government's decision as "cowardly".
"This is something you'd expect from Saudia Arabia, not Great Britain," Mr Wilders told a parliamentary session. But he signalled that he might make the journey to London on Thursday despite the ban.
"I am seriously considering just trying it out and just getting on the plane," he said. "Then I'll see what happens. Let them handcuff me," he was quoted as telling Dutch newspaper NRC.
The Dutch Foreign Minister Maxime Verhagen said his government would continue to press Britain to reverse the ban. He said he "deeply regretted" that a Dutch lawmaker had been barred entry to the UK.
Mr Verhagen said he had first contacted the British ambassador in The Hague. Having failed, Mr Verhagen then telephoned his British counterpart David Miliband. "It is highly regrettable that a Dutch parliamentarian is refused entry to another EU country," he said in a statement.
Mr Wilders, whose Freedom Party holds nine of the 120 seats in the Dutch Parliament, said he was shocked by the travel ban. He said: "We are talking here about a European Union country, one of the oldest democracies in the Western world."
Lord Pearson, who invited Wilders to show Fitna at the House of Lords, said he was "very surprised" at the news and was looking into what had happened to the Dutch MP.
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Comments
Violent muslims have Nu Labor on the run that's for sure. Contrast its speedy action against Wilders with Jack Straw's reluctance to condemn muslims demonstrating on the streets of London calling for the beheading of non muslims ie most of The Independent's readership.
Get on the plane Geert!
Its bad enough that we have had Guantanamo Bay and the continuing erosion of our civil liberties and a creeping surveillance state. We must learn that we cannot defeat the extremists by silencing legitimate debate and criticism nor can we defeat them by sinking to their level.
Grunt, slobber, slobber, grunt, grunt
FFS .. BAN all bloody religions and stop this crap!
it is indeed a deep insult to people of another religion and indeed will spark outrage..........
lets not forget that humanity demands respect, as they say, give respect and have respect, so do the muslims say, live and let live, if such religious discrimination is propagated by a Dutch MP, then for sure the Dutch govt needs to rethink of what calibre of people it has in its parliament!!!!!!!!!!
long live humanity, boo to hatred preachers
I think you will find it's up to the Dutch people not the goverment ..... we vote for our MP's unlike some countries !
This is not to say that there are not moderate Muslims, but they are not being true to classical Islam, nor will they succeed in the face of the militants, which are now well esconced in the majority of western democracies.
Wake up Britain and make every effort to hold fast to our Judeo-Chritian heritage upon which our societies laws are founded. We need look only to places such as Saudia Arabia, Iran, Pakistan etc to see what is in store if we allow any foothold at all to those who would replace our democracy with Sharia Law or any component of it.
Mustn,t upset muslims
let them dictate who says what , or who visits our country
Religion, as Christopher Hitchens says "poisons everything"
How right he is
If you cannot clearly define the problem, you have no hope of solving it. Redefining Islam as a political ideology would allow us to form a coherent strategy for combating the threat that it poses to our society in particular and to Western civilization in general.
his movie may have a theme (hate for islam) but does it really have a point?
it wont only offend non-radical muslims but will also cause riots and casualties to innocents.
although im personally agnostic i can say that no major RELIGION actually preaches hatered but PEOPLE do (evident by this article)
In Britain, we have education that allows our public to form their own oppinions of current affairs. we dont need stupid manipulative prejudice propaganda.
2002 - Wali Khan Ahmadzai, a Taliban fighter, was granted asylum by the Home Office.
Today - Geert Wilders speaks out against such policies and is banned from Britain!?!?!?
Are Wilders claims that the Koran advocates violence against non-Muslims true? Yes, they are. Does the Koran contain anti-semitic pasages? Yes, it does. Did Mohammed order armed robbery and violent expansionist military attacks to create a huge military empire? Yes, he did. Did early Islam attack Persia and many Arab countries and take them over by force? Yes, it did. Is the Koran a pacifist document? No it isn't. Was Mohammed a pacifist? No, he was not.
Do many Muslims, incredibly, still regard the Koran as being literally the word of God? Yes, they do and this motivates and, in their eyes, validates Islamic terrorism and the goal of creating a world-wide fascist, sectarian, anti-semitic system of government that would be terrible for everyone.
The land of Milton, Mill and Churchill has disgraced itself!
The world hasnt yet forgotten crucades, probably you might have yourself, which were a mere use of force themselves, in the name o religion.................besides, if you speak so much for the freeodm of speech and expression, then ill ask one thing, although i dont practice religion and respect all humanity, if yet i stand in public and start speaking against Holocaust, would it be acceptable?? if the answer is no, then i dont need to converse further
However, the muslims should also accept the culture of the land they chose to come to and it wouldn't do any harm if some of them gained a sense of humour too!!
Point of reference:
Hindus
Sikhs
Jews
Buddhism
Church of England
Roman Catholicism etc
Yet muslims are the only ones doing the 'rant' for universal acceptance and 'respect' of the masses, are they not?
It is not and never will be a one way street just for muslims and until they stop their threats and demands for special treatment, they alone are culpable for the views people have of them. They will never achieve the 'respect' they crave.
Perhaps looking at some UK's high profile politicians' agenda would be desirable.
Why is it that nobody ever denounces the Imams who preach hatred and violence in the name of Islam?
What we need now in this country is an honest and rational public discussion of Islam and the effect it is having on our society in particular and Western civilization in general. It is not good enough anymore to say, as many Muslims and their dhimmi apologists do - "Islam is a religion of peace, now go back to sleep."
This discussion should naturally include critical analysis of the texts and tenets of Islam, and of the life of the Islamic prophet Mohammed, which would lead us to the understanding of where Muslims get the idea that non-Muslims are somehow inferior to Muslims, and are to be converted, subjugated or killed whenever Muslims feel that they are strong enough to do so.
So if the government want to stop these extremist people why then did they let Abu Hamza get away with it, along with other Radical Clerics that stand on street corners in the UK preaching extremist messages.
Also why did London Transport allow the Atheist society to preach on the side of their buses that their probably is no God.
It seems in the UK it's one rule for all religions, except Christianity. The minute Christianity tries anything that any other religion can get away with it's hit in the face with all sorts of laws.
It seems that the government in the UK is the one inciting extremism, not all these other religions.
This is not anti-religion but just to point out that Islam is not alone in this potential.
Should he be banned. Yes, but only if we take the same attitude to those who point out the problems in many religious texts. That means I should be banned based on this posting. His mistake, in this matter, is to say it is Islam alone and to claim that it taints the whole of Islam. Free speech is always a problem. "I don't ike what he says but I defend his right to say them" is an easy concept but hard to put into practice with fueling the fires of hate and prejuduce.
Most religions can interpret themselves in peaceful and reasonable ways, though at heart I feel that the whole religious instinct is flawed and dysfunctional.
If banning books and films was fashionable, the Koran would probably have joined the list for destruction and we would never have read the above detail.
Sure. When they respect the rights of other religions and stop getting on the streets of England screaming 'Death to the Infidels'. The damage done to their religion was of their own making.
Negotiation is a two way street and meeting in the middle. Not one party saying you must agree with me or I will kill you
While this continues, you can make me fear it, but never respect it,
Actually matey we have all forgotten the Crusades , except it would seem for Muslims and followers of Islam. The Koran , and indeed Islam teaches that Westerners are the same violent crusading warriors that peerppetrated the war crimes known as the Crusades. Which of course is just ignorant repetition of history to manipulate believers,something Islam is very good at.
If you wish to beleive that The World which I presume you mean everyone except muslims , is hanging on to the crusades , a bloody terrible conquest of the innocent , where you lot learnt what violence is by the way , then you're as indoctrinated and brainwashes as most of Islam.Proving that the leaders of your religion are getting exactly the results the want , followers who don't know why the beleive what they do , or what they are promoting.
Its only fair to interpret a text within the context it was written. Thousands of scholars study the Koran for years, while this gentlemen feels its ok to take the text out of context and frame it alongside acts of terror. This is exactly the same as what islamic terrorists do in their recruitment propoganda videos.
Surely we should be against extremism of all forms when it is designed to provoke conflict.
This mans far right propoganda is not factual, and is clearly designed to provoke. It would be akin to allowing the BNP, or worse osama bin laden to show a film in the House of Lords.