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AMSTERDAM — The animal rights activist who assassinated Dutch politician Pim Fortuyn was freed Friday, after serving just under 12 years in prison — years during which many of Fortuyn’s ideas, particularly his disdain of “multiculturalism” and his dislike of Muslim immigration, have become mainstream in the Netherlands. Volkert van der Graaf killed Fortuyn on May 6, 2002, days before national elections in which Fortuyn was set to win big on an anti-immigration platform that upended the then-progressive Dutch political landscape.

Geert Wilders: "I am risking my life in defence of freedom in the Netherlands" Final remarks of Geert Wilders at his trial in Amsterdam, June 1st, 2011 Mister President, members of the Court, I am here because of what I have said. I am here for having spoken. I have spoken, I speak and I shall continue to speak. Many have kept silent, but not Pim Fortuyn, not Theo Van Gogh, and not I. I am obliged to speak. For the Netherlands is under threat of Islam. As I have argued many times, Islam is chiefly an ideology. An ideology...

WHEN Geert Wilders, a Dutch politician, collected his post from the letterbox on Wednesday he got an unpleasant surprise. Among the bills and junk mail was a letter addressing him as “ugly dog”. It told him he would soon be beheaded. It was an unnerving way to start the day. Only 24 hours earlier Theo van Gogh, the film maker who had often attacked radical Muslims, had been riding along on his bicycle when a Muslim fanatic first shot and then butchered him on a busy street with the nonchalance of an abattoir worker.

The Dutch plans to forcibly remove tens of thousands of asylum seekers may sit ill at ease with Holland's long-standing reputation as a bastion of liberalism and laissez-faire attitudes. But the expression "Normen en waarden" - norms and values - has become a catchphrase in the country, whose residents have in recent years expressed increasing unease with sharing their homeland with foreigners who they say do not subscribe to Dutch values. The meteoric rise of the populist Pim Fortuyn - who campaigned on an anti-immigration, anti-Islam ticket prior to his assassination in 2002 - was widely interpreted as a wake-up...

Fortuyn Assassin Sentenced to 18 Years By TOBY STERLING, Associated Press Writer AMSTERDAM, Netherlands - The man who confessed to killing Dutch politician Pim Fortuyn was sentenced to 18 years in prison Tuesday for the first political assassination in the Netherlands since World War II. Angry Fortuyn supporters — who had wanted a life sentence — booed the decision and stormed out of the courtroom. One woman broke down in sobs after the sentence was read out. "All considered, a sentence of life imprisonment would not be appropriate in this case," said Presiding Judge Frans Bauduin. "Therefore we are giving...

'I shot Fortuyn for Dutch Muslims,' says accused Andrew Osborn Friday March 28, 2003The GuardianThe long-awaited trial of Pim Fortuyn's alleged killer got under way in the Netherlands yesterday with a stark admission from the main defendant that he had assassinated the anti-immigration politician as a favour to the country's Muslim minority and other vulnerable sections of society. Fortuyn, a flamboyant, openly gay politician who called Islam "backward" and favoured zero immigration, was shot dead last May, plunging the Netherlands into political crisis. Tipped to become the country's next prime minister, Fortuyn's death galvanised support for his fledgling political movement...

AN ANIMAL rights activist confessed yesterday to murdering the populist Dutch anti- immigration politician Pim Fortuyn last May. “I could see no other option than to do what I did,” Volkert van der Graaf said at his trial in a high-security Amsterdam court, known as “the bunker”. He added that he believed Fortuyn, 54, had tried to abuse the strong anti-Muslim feelings prevalent after the September 11 terrorist attacks for his own aggrandisement. “I got the impression he was looking for a scapegoat he could use to increase his popularity. That was a great concern to me,” Van der Graaf...

The man who confessed to killing Dutch politician Pim Fortuyn today told a court he did it to protect the country’s muslim minority from Fortuyn’s anti-immigration policies. Volkert van der Graaf, a 33-year-old animal rights activist, was arrested moments after Fortuyn was gunned down in a car park outside a radio studio on May 6, 2002, just days before a general election. At the start of his trial today, he openly answered questions about the motives behind the first political assassination in modern Dutch history. Although Van der Graaf confessed, under Dutch law prosecutors need to present their case to...

Pouring out of Rotterdam's Al-Nasr mosque after prayers yesterday, Arabs and Berbers were ecstatic over the crushing defeat meted out to Pim Fortuyn's anti-Islamic party in this week's elections. One let out a huge sigh of relief. "Very good," he said in mixture of broken Dutch and French before hurrying off to the Oude West, a sprawling Muslim city to the west of Rotterdam, the world's biggest port, where headscarves are de rigeur for women - brightly coloured for Turks, sombre for North Africans. The mosque is a red brick edifice that blends into the Dutch cityscape in contrast to...

Pim Fortuyn's party faces oblivion in today's Dutch general election, but the assassinated gay populist has left a trail of shattered taboos and pulled Holland's political establishment far into his camp. A poll published yesterday by the Dutch Nipo institute predicted that the Pim Fortuyn List would win only six seats, down from 26 in the last election last May. But as voters go to the polls in search of a durable government, after Fortuyn's squabbling followers tore the last one to pieces, they face a Left, Right and Centre that are all echoing his call for law and order...

AMSTERDAM — Ayaan Hirsi Ali had done well in the 10 years since she arrived in the Netherlands as a young refugee from Somalia and, until a few months ago, she lived a quiet life in her adopted land. Never did she intend to create a national commotion. She studied Dutch, took on cleaning jobs, went to university and worked as a political scientist. She made a name for herself pressing for the emancipation of Muslim women and documenting how thousands, living even here, were subjected to beatings, incest and emotional and sexual abuse. To the surprise of many, she...

AMSTERDAM - Police on Tuesday announced the arrest of 210 illegal immigrants from the Balkans in the largest sweep since a center-right government took office in July, promising tighter immigration controls. The arrests were made over the past few days in Amsterdam and the entire group will be put on a charter plane back to the Balkans on Wednesday, officials said. Police spokeswoman Elly Florax said most of those arrested were Bulgarian, including many who had committed petty crimes such as pick-pocketing and shoplifting. One group had set up a scam this summer, posing as police agents in order to...

THE HAGUE, Netherlands - The new Dutch government released budget and policy guidelines Tuesday that toughened immigration controls and left behind more liberal, tolerant policies that governed the Netherlands over the past few decades. The budget for year ending December 2003 cuts funds for processing would-be immigrants and asylum-seekers, while boosting funds for detaining and deporting them. But the policy guidelines set for the next four years go much further. The new center-right government plans to reduce immigration by 25 percent in its first year; make entry into the country without a visa a criminal offense; imprison would-be immigrants who...

Powered by SAVE THIS | EMAIL THIS | Close Dutch rightist Fortuyn shot dead AMSTERDAM, Netherlands (CNN) --Maverick Dutch right-wing politician Pim Fortuyn has been shot dead, police have told CNN. Fortuyn, 54, was shot in the head at least three times at close range as he was going to a Dutch national radio station in Hilversum, the Associated Press reported. Opinion polls had shown that Fortuyn and his party, running on an anti-immigration platform, were scheduled to win a large block in the country's parliament in May 15 elections. A man who was believed to have been carrying a...

Thousands of people have taken part in a rally in the Dutch city of Rotterdam in protest at the assassination of right-wing politician Pim Fortuyn. The Dutch Government has announced next week's general election will go ahead as planned, despite (right wing politician) Pim Fortuyn's murder on Monday evening. Police say they have detained their prime suspect in the case - a 32-year-old white Dutchman. Reports say he was an animal-rights activist angered by Fortuyn's calls to lift a ban on fur farming. The public prosecutor said ammunition was found at the suspect's house, matching the calibre of the...

Huge gains for Dutch far right Andrew Osborn Friday March 8, 2002 The Guardian The Dutch government was under pressure last night after a new far-right movement committed to slashing immigration made widespread gains in local elections and became the biggest political force in Rotterdam, the Netherlands' second city. The spectacular gains by the charismatic but openly racist politician Pim Fortuyn and a loose coalition of parties centred on the anti-immigration Leefbaar Nederland (Liveable Netherlands) movement come two months before national elections and threaten to shatter the country's image as an ultra-tolerant society. Mr Fortuyn favours zero Muslim immigration, wants ...

<p>May 7, 2002 -- ROTTERDAM, Netherlands - A maverick Dutch politician - who called Islamic culture "backward" in an interview last week - was shot dead yesterday as he left a radio interview.</p> <p>Right-winger Pim Fortuyn, whose anti-immigration party made a surprisingly strong showing in local elections in March, was shot six times in the head, neck and chest.</p>

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Populist Pim Fortuyn, whose May murder was as sensational as his controversy-courting views and his sprint to Dutch political prominence, will be finally laid to rest Saturday in a marble tomb in his beloved Italy. The flamboyant ex-professor, gunned down just days before an election that whisked his novice party into power, was disinterred Friday from a temporary grave in his birthplace near Amsterdam before flowers, toys and letters were cast in. Escorted by police -- and dozens of leather-clad motorbikers -- Fortuyn's sunflower-bedecked white hearse was driven to Rotterdam airport, where friends and family began a...

The new centre-right Cabinet is likely to question the tolerance shown towards soft drugs, gay issues and euthanasia AMSTERDAM - Holland's liberal lifestyle is under threat from its new centre-right government, which is planning to review the status of the country's drug cafes and laws that allow same-sex marriage and euthanasia. Dutch Christian Democrat (CDA) leader Jan Peter Balkenende set about forming a new government at the weekend, seven weeks after May's legislative election which was overshadowed by the murder of populist politician Pim Fortuyn. Mr Balkenende, a 46-year-old Harry Potter lookalike, has two weeks in which to appoint his...

Austrian populist Jörg Haider's plans to build a right-wing pan- European club could attract some surprising supporters, says Kate Connolly Just as Austria's Jörg Haider thought his star was being overshadowed by the recent success of other far-right politicians in Europe, he has cunningly come up with a plan that could eclipse them all. The success of Jean-Marie Le Pen's National Front in France's elections prompted the far-rightist to unveil his plans to establish a pan-European anti-Europe platform. Several European elections later, his ideas have developed considerably. In a recent interview with Italy's conservative daily Corriere della Sera, he announced...