Free Republic

AMSTERDAM, 17/05/08 - Justice Minister Ernst Hirsch Ballin has attracted sharp criticism from a large part of the Lower House following the surprise arrest of cartoonist Gregorius Nekschot. He is facing charges of discrimination. The arrest took place last Tuesday. The well-known stand-up comedian Hans Teeuwen, a friend of Nekschot, said on TV programme Pauw en Witteman that around 10 police dragged the cartoonist out of his home in Amsterdam in a brutal manner. His computer and telephone were seized, according to a furious Teeuwen. The Public Prosecutor's Office (OM) in Amsterdam confirmed that Nekschot ('Neck Shot') was arrested for...

French arrest 10 in connection with terror probe By JOHN LEICESTER, Associated Press Writer Authorities in France, Germany and the Netherlands on Friday detained at least 10 people suspected of helping to fund al-Qaida-linked militants with roots in Uzbekistan, officials said. One suspect was detained in Germany, another in the Netherlands, with the rest detained in France, said a senior French police official who was only authorized to discuss the arrests on condition of anonymity. The suspects' nationalities were not given but officials said they were Turkic-speaking. French police suspect they collected funds for the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, a...

Wageningen - The annual Liberty Parade marking Liberation Day in 1945 has been held in the Dutch town of Wageningen. Around 1,300 veterans, including 200 from World War II, filed through the city centre. Some 100,000 spectators lined the streets despite the high temperatures. At a ceremony early in the afternoon Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende kicked off 13 liberation festivals across the country. The festivities will end with an outdoor concert on the river Amstel in the capital which will be attended by Queen Beatrix.

THE HAGUE, 06/05/08 - The Party for Freedom (PVV) will ask for an unscheduled debate to be held about a proposal put forward by Welfare State Secretary Jet Bussemaker for paying more attention to the role of Muslims in the liberation of the Netherlands during World War II. "The role played by ethnic minorities during the war was negligible. But Labour (PvdA) - Bussemaker's party - now wishes to exaggerate this role to please its Islamic voters," PVV MP Martin Bosma claimed yesterday. On Sunday, Bussemaker proposed that teacher training colleges (PABOs) should include the role played by ethnic minorities...

ZOETERMEER, 03/05/08 - The controversial imam Fawaz Jneid is to focus on the Islamisation of young children. A new institution working together with his radical As-Soennah mosque in The Hague is organising strict religious classes for children aged 5 to 14 years in the suburb of Zoetermeer, as De Telegraaf reports. According to the newspaper, the classes are taking place in a sports hall which is rented from the municipality. The classes are given by 'brethren' of the foundation Al-Ichlaas (purity of faith). Up to the present, several dozen pupils have registered. The children are expected to appear in class...

Amsterdam, Netherlands (LifeNews.com) -- The official number of euthanasia cases in the Netherlands is on the rise, but not all cases of killing patients are included. The official report mentions only three cases involving physicians who didn't follow the proper protocols when killing the patient.The ANP news service indicated the number of euthanasia cases rose to 2,120 last year from 1,923 in 2006.In three instances, the regional committees responsible for ensuring the criteria for legal euthanasia are followed indicated doctors had not adhered to the law.The report indicated the committees forwarded information about the cases to the justice department and...

Amsterdam, Netherlands (LifeNews.com) -- The official number of euthanasia cases in the Netherlands is on the rise, but not all cases of killing patients are included. The official report mentions only three cases involving physicians who didn't follow the proper protocols when killing the patient. The ANP news service indicated the number of euthanasia cases rose to 2,120 last year from 1,923 in 2006.

THE HAGUE, 26/04/08 - The controversial Mohammed-exhibition of work by Iranian artist Sooreh Hera remains hidden from the public. For the third time in succession, an exhibitor willing to show her work has reversed this decision. Hera took photos of homosexuals wearing masks of the prophet Mohammed and his son-in-law Ali. The work was first going to be exhibited by the Gemeentemuseum in The Hague, but the museum changed its mind because it "did not wish to become part of a political debate," as Director Wim van Krimpen put it. MuseumgoudA then took on the role of advocate of artistic...

THE HAGUE, 26/04/08 - Ahmed Marcouch, leader of Amsterdam's Slotervaart district council, says the radical Imam Fawaz Jneid has declared a Fatwa against him. Marcouch said on television programme Pauw & Witteman, in a debate with Fawaz Jneid, that the Imam has signed a statement of Arab clergy in which he is called a 'hypocrite' and 'disguised unbeliever.' According to Marcouch, the statement has the status of a Fatwa (Islamic curse), as a result of which his life may be in danger. Marcouch, a member of Labour (PvdA), is a Muslim and Moroccan. He wants a ban on Fatwas to...

THE HAGUE, 25/04/08 - The cabinet proposal to ban face-covering clothing for government functionaries, in education and in public transport is supported by the Lower House. But the Christian democrats (CDA) and Labour (PvdA) disagree over a ban in the health sector. The CDA wants to extend the 'burqa ban' to the health sector. "We do not want any face-covering in healthcare, certainly not among the personnel," according to MP Madeleine van Toorenburg. PvdA MP Jeroen Dijsselbloem is unconvinced. "The healthcare sector has never been asked for its opinion," he tried. But CDA's Healthcare Minister Ab Klink told Van Toorenburg...

According to the AIVD, the Dutch secret service, the terrorist threat from radical Islamic quarters is increasing, both in the Netherlands and elsewhere in the world. In its annual report for 2007 the AIVD also confirms what other intelligence sources have said previously: al-Qaeda is gaining influence after being effectively out of action for years. Each year the secret service presents a central theme in its annual report. This year it's international cooperation and the exchange of information between intelligence services. The AIVD explains that such cooperation might be necessary but it isn't without its complications. The identities of intelligence...

The new commander-in-chief talks about how his son would have wanted him to continue with the Afghanistan mission. THE NETHERLANDS - In General Peter van Uhm's first press conference since taking over as commander-in-chief on Thursday, he talked about the Afghanistan and the grief of losing his son. The general’s son, Lieutenant Dennis van Uhm, was killed on Friday. The lieutenant and another soldier were killed and two others were injured while they were on patrol in the Afghan province of Uruzgan. Headlines of Dutch newspapers today carried headlines on how the general remains strong in spite of his grief....

THE HAGUE, 24/04/08 - The Lower House wants it to be made possible to lock up asylum-seekers so that they do not disappear into the illegal circuit. But Justice State Secretary Nebahat Albayrak is refusing. The Netherlands is sticking to the policy of not locking up asylum-seekers during the asylum procedure, said Albayrak in the Lower House yesterday. The MPs were holding an interlocutory debate prompted by the disappearance of 300 Chinese asylum-seekers. Between mid-March and mid-April, 770 Chinese suddenly applied to the application centre for asylum-seekers in Ter Apel. They had responded to a false rumour that Crown Prince...

The Hague - The former grand mufti of Jerusalem, Ikrima Sabri, is still not welcome in the Netherlands. Dutch Foreign Minister Maxime Verhagen has made clear via the Dutch consulate in Ramallah that if the mufti decides to come to the Netherlands, he will be detained and deported immediately. The Palestinian Muslim cleric is regarded as controversial because of his radical speeches against Israel. A Turkish organisation in the Dutch town of Zaandam has invited Ikrima Sabri for a conference. Last year the mufti was asked to come to Rotterdam, but he declined the invitation. At the time Mr Sabri...

Diplomacy: Democrats have hammered the Bush administration for supposedly losing allies and global standing. But a look at U.S. ties shows Bush to be a master diplomat who is strengthening U.S. relations all over."The world owes President Bush a debt of gratitude in leading the world in our determination to root out terrorism," said British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, a man whose recent elevation to office was supposed to denote a "cooling" of relations with the U.S. and a tilt toward Europe. But Europe isn't really "cooling," either. France is now led by a man elected as "le Americain." Like...

THE HAGUE, Netherlands - The son of the Dutch defense chief was killed Friday by a roadside bomb in Afghanistan, and the Taliban claimed they deliberately made the young lieutenant a high-profile target. While the Dutch quickly cast doubt on the Taliban claim, the death underscores the danger high-profile soldiers can face and illustrates a grim reality for families, famous and not, who choose the military life. Lt. Dennis van Uhm, 23, was one of two Dutch soldiers killed in the explosion seven miles northwest of Camp Holland, the Dutch military base in the restive southern province of Uruzgan. Two...

The son of the Netherlands’ top military officer was killed by a roadside bomb in Afghanistan early this morning, one day after his father was made head of the Dutch armed forces. Lieutenant Dennis van Uhm, 23, was among two Dutch soldiers killed in the blast seven miles northwest of their military base, Camp Holland, in Uruzgan province, the Dutch defence ministry said. The second dead soldier was not fully identified but was said to be 22 years old. The military insisted today that there was nothing to suggest the commander’s son was deliberately targeted. However there were fears that...

THE NETHERLANDS - Dutch politician Ehsan Jami is closing down his Central Committee for Ex-Muslims. He claims people are scared to join the organisation because of threats from Muslims. Jami sits on the municipal council in Voorburg, formerly for the Labour Party, now as an independent. He presented plans for a committee for former Muslims last year. He was subsequently assaulted in the street and was provided with police protection. Jami was planning to make a cartoon animation on the Prophet Muhammad, which was to feature explicit sexual scenes, but recently agreed to give up the idea in response to...

AMSTERDAM, 18/04/08 - Rutger van Santen, chairman of the Parliamentary Press Association (PPV), has been suspended by Radio Netherlands World Service (RNW) on grounds of his prejudice against MP Geert Wilders. Van Santen is not allowed to write anything for a month. After that, he is not allowed to report on Dutch politics for another three months, newspaper De Volkskrant reported yesterday. The measure was prompted by an interview the reporter had with leftwing Green (GroenLinks) MP Tofik Dibi for TV channel Het Gesprek (The Interview). Van Santen asked Dibi to call Wilders a racist. Despite refusals by the young...

The Dutch Labour Party is demanding an emergency parliamentary debate on what has become known as the Brazilian child pornography case. Labour MP Khadija Arib wants Justice Minister Ernst Hirsch Ballin to explain to the house why two Dutch men cannot be extradited to Brazil to serve their sentences. The two were sentenced to 17 and 21 years' imprisonment by a Brazilian court for child pornography offences, including the abuse of 24 girls. They managed to leave Brazil using emergency Dutch passports, which they obtained from the Dutch consulate in Rio de Janeiro while awaiting the result of their appeal....

It's important for Muslims to keep reminding us that there is absolutely, positively no relationship between Islam and violence. Otherwise it's easy to forget. The latest excuse for Islamic bonhomie is the documentary "Fitna" by Geert Wilders. In the 15-minute film, showing on YouTube and other Internet sites, the Dutch MP says that far from getting Islam wrong, terrorists understand their religion only too well. "Fitna" (Arabic for "upheaval" or "ordeal") has verses from the Koran -- which Wilders calls a "fascist book" -- artfully interspersed with scenes of carnage from 9/11 and the March, 2004 Madrid train bombing, as...

THE HAGUE, 09/04/08 - A primary school in Amsterdam wished to provide its pupils with an understanding for other cultures. But during a visit to a mosque, the children were told they were dogs. With a view to developing understanding and respect for other cultures among children, primary school De Horizon regularly organises outings to various religious organisations. The chairman of the El Mouchidine mosque told the children from group 7 (aged 10) and their chaperones however that non-Muslims are dogs. In a letter to the children's parents, the school expresses its regret at the incident: "We are shocked that...

THE HAGUE, 08/04/08 - MP Geert Wilders does not incite to hatred or violence against Muslims. His comparison of Islam with Fascism is permissible, a district court in The Hague ruled yesterday. The Netherlands Islamic Federation (NIF) had put forward a number of statements by the Party for Freedom (PVV) leader in a summary injunction. The NIF considered that Wilders had broken the law by comparing Islam with Fascism, calling the Koran the Islamic version of Hitler's Mein Kampf and the Prophet Mohammed a barbarian. All remarks are legal, the court decided yesterday. The foundation demanded that Wilders take back...

The West stands by idly as its foundations are rent asunder.Last Friday the UN's Human Rights Council took a direct swipe at freedom of expression. In a 32-0 vote, the council instructed its "expert on freedom of expression" to report to the council on all instances in which individuals "abuse" their freedom of speech by giving expression to racial or religious bias. The measure was proposed by paragons of freedom Egypt and Pakistan. It was supported by all Arab, Muslim and African countries - founts of liberty one and all. European states abstained. The US, which is not a member...

Former Immigration Minister Rita Verdonk, known for her hard-line policies and no-nonsense approach, is the anchorwoman behind a new political movement, launched in Amsterdam on Thursday. Called Proud of the Netherlands, its central aim is to defend the Dutch national character. At the launch of her new political movement, Rita Verdonk spoke forcefully about the need to protect and revitalize the Dutch identity: "What drives me are all the people who want to be proud of our country... Too many people have lost this pride. Many are worried about the Netherlands, worried about Dutch culture." Freedom from foreign control She...

A Palestinian news agency that receives financial support from the governments of The Netherlands and Denmark glorifies terrorists, releases news stories using hate language and is a highly politicized, hate-promoting news organization. Paradoxically, Ma'an News claims to be "objective, accurate, balanced" and to "increase Palestinian media credibility," according to its web site. 1- Ma'an Honoring Terrorists and Murderers as Shahids Ma'an has glorified the recent Palestinian murderer of eight Israeli yeshiva students, the Dimona suicide terrorist, the killers of the two Israeli hikers and the terrorists who attacked a boys' high school with the very highest Islamic status attainable, elevating...

The Austrian authorities have indicted politician Susanne Winter on charges of incitement and degradation of religious symbols and religious agitation. This offence carries a maximum sentence of two years. Last January, Ms Winter said that the prophet Muhammad was “a child molester” because he had married a six-year-old girl. She also said he was “a warlord” who had written the Koran during “epileptic fits.”The politician, a member of the Austrian Freedom Party FPÖ, an anti-immigration party which is in opposition, added that Islam is “a totalitarian system of domination that should be cast back to its birthplace on the other...

THE HAGUE, 03/04/08 - Well-known businessman Roel Pieper has left the Netherlands. The government is unable to protect its citizens against criminals, he said yesterday in Het Financieele Dagbad. On 31 May 2003, Pieper's wife was stabbed 10 times by an intruder with a knife, in the neck, chest and back. Last month, Pieper discovered that the perpetrator was running around free again. "In January, he was given unescorted leave". Pieper and his wife were only informed of this afterwards, on 14 March. On behalf of Justice State Secretary Nebahat Albayrak, apologies were made to the Pieper family. But the...

NIJMEGEN, 02/04/08 - A school in Nijmegen yesterday cancelled a cartoon exhibition about discrimination following threats by Muslim pupils. Before this decision was taken, the exhibition was already literally destroyed. Muslim pupils of the ROC Nijmegen, a large school with largely immigrant pupils, pulled cartoons from the walls shortly before these were to be presented officially. They also threatened to set the school alight. The school management decided to call off the opening. In the exhibition, artists expressed their vision on discrimination in a humorist manner. "My expectation was that the pupils would be able to laugh about it", Ralph...

The ambassadors of 26 Islamic countries want the Netherlands to investigate whether the film Fitna made by Dutch right-wing populist MP Geert Wilders can be banned. They asked Foreign Minister Maxime Verhagen whether it is possible to start legal proceedings against the anti-Islam film. The meeting at the ministry in The Hague was attended by ambassadors of countries including Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Turkey. Mr Verhagen told the 26 ambassadors he was pleased that responses from the Muslim world up to now had been moderate. He said the public prosecutor was investigating whether any offence had been...

THE HAGUE, 01/04/08 - Geert Wilders' Party for Freedom (PVV) has the most loyal following of all political parties in the Lower House. He is also the leader who is the most highly valued by his voters, according to findings of pollster Maurice de Hond. On a scale of 1 to 10, PVV supporters give Wilders an 8.4. This makes their confidence in their leader clearly higher than for any other political leaders among their own supporters. Trends in recent weeks have only further boosted confidence in Wilders among the PVV following, said De Hond. He held the survey after...

Tehran - Iran has summoned the Dutch ambassador to protest about Fitna, the anti-Qur'an film produced by far-right MP Geert Wilders. Tehran recently asked European governments to ban the film. So far Pakistan has been the only country to summon a Dutch envoy over the film. The controversy has prompted Dutch Foreign Minister Maxime Verhagen to publish an article in the Arabic newspaper Asharq al-Awsat, calling on people "to keep their heads cool and relations warm". He also underlined the need for dialogue to explain that freedom of speech and religion are human rights enshrined in the Dutch constitution. Australian...

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Friday condemned as "offensively anti-Islamic" a Dutch lawmaker's film that accuses the Koran of inciting violence. Ban acknowledged efforts by the government of the Netherlands to stop the broadcast of the film, which was launched by Islam critic Geert Wilders over the Internet, and appealed for calm to those "understandably offended by it." "There is no justification for hate speech or incitement to violence," Ban said in a statement. "The right of free expression is not at stake here." The short film, titled "Fitna," an Arabic term sometimes translated as "strife,"...

Like pensions and insurance, defence is one of those subjects to which too many people only pay attention when things go wrong. You might think, in the light of the past decade, that this would have changed. But you would be sadly mistaken. Even today, even after Iraq, few mainstream MPs without an immediate personal or constituency interest in the subject turn up in the Commons for defence debates. Many politicians who are thoughtful about a range of domestic issues still pass by on the other side when the conversation gravitates to the military. In this they reflect the British...

A 17-minute documentary on the Quran, juxtaposing images of Islam's holy book with terror attacks and bombings by Muslim extremists, was taken down from a British video-sharing website, LiveLeak,com, after the organization reported "serious" threats to its staff members. The documentary had been posted against the wishes of the government of the Netherlands by Geert Wilders, a Dutch MP and leader of the Freedom Party. His video is called "Fitna," an Arabic word meaning strife. It appeared on the political party's website first, but soon disappeared because of "technical difficulties," reported the London Times. Then it appeared on LiveLeak.com, only...

THE HAGUE, 29/03/08 - Party for Freedom (PVV) leader Geert Wilders considers that Premier Jan Peter Balkenende "must be terribly embarrassed" about everything he has said in the past about his anti-Koran film Fitna. Balkenende repeatedly stressed in recent weeks that the film could lead to attacks and deaths. When the media asked him if he was not exaggerating, the premier even replied last week that the word 'crisis' could turn out to be a euphemism. The reactions from the Muslim world so far appear to be moderate. "Muslims are acting much more responsibly than the premier," according to Wilders....

THE HAGUE, 28/03/08 - While the cabinet is losing sleep over MP Geert Wilders' unpublished Koran film, a second film is due out on 20 April. Ehsan Jami plans to launch a cartoon film featuring the Prophet Mohammed as a paedophile. Jami, born in Iran, announced that his film, The Life of Mohammed, is due for release on 20 April. On TV programme Netwerk, the young politician (22) showed a screen-shot in which the Prophet, with a visible erection, takes a child to a mosque to have sex. On the mosque is a swastika. The fragment is a reference to...

The Netherlands is bracing for a new round of violence at home and against its embassies in the Middle East. The storm would be caused by "Fitna," a short film that is scheduled to be released this week. The film, which reportedly includes images of a Quran being burned, was produced by Geert Wilders, a member of the Dutch parliament and leader of the Freedom Party. Mr. Wilders has called for banning the Quran -- which he has compared to Hitler's "Mein Kampf" -- from the Netherlands. After concern about the film led Mr. Wilders's Internet service provider to take...

AMSTERDAM, 27/03/08 - The majority of the Dutch are negative on Islam and immigration. Additionally, their knowledge of Dutch history is meagre, according to a survey by three history professors. According to 56 percent of the Dutch, Islam is a threat to the Dutch identity. As well, 57 percent named admitting large groups of immigrants as "the biggest mistake in Dutch history". The results come from the History Monitor. This survey was carried out among a representative group of 1,069 people by De Volkskrant newspaper, Historisch Nieuwsblad history journal and TV programme Andere Tijden in consultation with history professors James...

Amsterdam, Netherlands (LifeNews.com) -- A Netherlands psychiatrist who assisted in the suicide of a grieving mother that ultimately led to the Dutch Supreme Court ruling that the depressed should have the right to kill themselves has now published a do-it-yourself guide to committing suicide. The guide is expected to go on sale soon in the European nation and it contains detailed information on how people can use drugs to kill themselves. It also contains information on how to perform other acts of suicide using starvation techniques and describes the quickest and least painful ways to do so. "Doctors learn little...

The Islamists' Nemesis (Holland's Geert Wilders goes toe-to-toe with Islamification) By Stephen Brown FrontPageMagazine.com | 3/24/2008 Can a film save a country? Geert Wilders is betting that it can. The courageous politician, a member of the Dutch Freedom Party, is currently locked in a battle against the jihadists who would overwhelm and Islamize his homeland. But as he stands in combat against the enemies of Holland's liberal, democratic society, a fifteen-minute film that no one has yet seen is one of his few weapons. Scheduled for release before the end of March, the film is still a mystery. But one...

Excerpt - AMSTERDAM, March 23 (Reuters) - A U.S.-based web service, which Islam critic and Dutch right-wing lawmaker Geert Wilders planned to use to show his film critical of the Koran, said on Saturday that it had inactivated the site due to complaints. "This site has been suspended while Network Solutions is investigating whether the site's content is in violation of the Network Solutions Acceptable Use Policy," the company said on the site www.fitnathemovie.com. Wilders, who has given few details about his 15-minute film, has said he plans to release 'Fitna' on the Internet before the end of the month...

The Netherlands is bracing itself for an international backlash as Geert Wilders, a maverick right-wing MP, prepares to release an anti-Islamic film that is already causing anger. Critics fear the much-hyped film Fitna, which criticises the Koran, could lead to bloodshed in Muslim countries, damage Dutch business interests and endanger the lives of Dutch troops in Afghanistan. Wilders – who has received death threats from Islamic extremists – has promised to release the film before the end of March despite pleas from the Dutch government and mounting unrest in the Muslim world. The actual content of the 15-minute film has...

THE HAGUE, 22/03/08 - Policemen should develop more understanding for ethnic groups. Otherwise society is in danger of breaking down, the Council of Police Chiefs writes in a memo entitled 'Politie voor een ieder' (Police for everyone). Policemen should pay more attention to the sensitivities of different population groups. Police forces that do not invest in this may be faced with "unpleasant surprises". A spokesman for the Council of Police Chiefs confirmed the existence of the internal vision, which landed up in the possession of regional newspaper group GPD. The Council presses for "multicultural professionalism", the spokesman explained. Policemen should...

THE HAGUE, 19/03/08 - In a joint statement yesterday, the Protestant Church in the Netherlands (PKN), the Council of Churches in the Netherlands, the Muslims and Government Contact Body (CMO) and the Islam Contact Group (CGI) expressed their "great concern" about the anti-Islam film that Party for Freedom (PVV) leader Wilders wants to bring out. "Although our freedom of speech allows the publication of this film, we consider such provocation undesirable," the statement said. It is "reprehensible if the sacred (elements) in our religions are ridiculed and our faith offended. We therefore forcefully reject it if the Koran and the...

The U.S. dollar's value is dropping so fast against the euro that small currency outlets in Amsterdam are turning away tourists seeking to sell their dollars for local money while on vacation in the Netherlands. "Our dollar is worth maybe zero over here," said Mary Kelly, an American tourist from Indianapolis, Indiana, in front of the Anne Frank house. "It's hard to find a place to exchange. We have to go downtown, to the central station or post office."

UTRECHT, 18/03/08 - Anyone has the right to criticise, ridicule or insult Judaism. Muslims should follow the example of the way in which Christians and Jews deal with criticism, suggests director Ron Naftaniel of the Centre for Information and Documentation on Israel (CIDI). Naftaniel made a plea for freedom of speech at the University of Utrecht, in a debate on Article 1 (the ban on discrimination) of the Dutch constitution. "It is a free choice to be religious. And criticising someone's choice is a fundamental right in our democracy. You must be able to say that Judaism is a backward...

Councillors in the Netherlands have agreed to allow gay sex in the public area of an Amsterdam park. Gay men having sex in the city's famous Vondelpark will be permitted as part of a set of new rules of conduct for the country's best-known park. "Why should we try to impose something that is actually impossible to impose, which also causes little bother for others and for a certain group actually means much pleasure?", said Paul van Grieken, an Alderman in the Oud-Zuid district of the city. The park's rose garden has become a well known spot for gay men...

A prayer leader in Tehran last week urged all Islamic countries to sever their ties with Denmark and with all “those who desecrate Prophet Muhammad.” According to a report in the Tehran Times, Ayatollah Khatami of the Assembly of Experts believes that the Danish cartoons depicting the religious figure are insulting and part of a plot to stop the spread of Islam in the world. “In Denmark, where the cartoons were published, the Quran became the best seller book, therefore they should know such actions will not serve their purpose,” Ayatollah Khatami told worshippers. Last month, newspapers in Denmark reprinted...

THE HAGUE, 14/03/08 - The Netherlands will not ask for an EU statement that explicitly defends freedom of expression. This freedom in fact has limitations, suggested Premier Jan Peter Balkenende in the Lower House. The Netherlands is seeking support from the EU in relation to the possible consequences of the Koran film that MP Geert Wilders wants to show on or around 28 March. The formal Dutch position is that both freedom of expression and freedom of religion must be respected. The Netherlands hopes that its view can be incorporated in a joint EU statement if the film leads to...