GagWatch

In a case brought by the Dutch Islamic Federation, a judge has ruled that MP Geert Wilders is not guilty of spreading hate.

This is not related to Fitna but to remarks he made back in August comparing the Koran to Mein Kampf and calling Islam a fascist religion. The judge ruled that, although Wilders statements were provocative, members of parliament have to be able to express their opinions strongly.

The Fitna bandwagon just keeps on rolling. Indonesia are leading the pack at the moment, banning broadcasts of the film and barring Geert Wilders from entering the country.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono urged fellow Muslims in the country on Monday night not to use violence, vandalism or conduct a sweep against opponents in protests against the film, saying Islam and other religions never allow such a way.

But he also insisted that “world leaders have a moral obligation to prevent religious or cultural defamation,” which they don’t.

In Malaysia, the country’s national religious council called the film an insult it Islam and called for a boycott of Dutch products.

And a group of 53 Jordanian MPs have delivered a petition to their government in Amman, demanding that it break all diplomatic ties with the Netherlands. They also want the Dutch ambassador expelled from the country.

After endless speculation, threats and attempts to ban it, Geert Wilders’ Fitna was released on Liveleak on Thursday. And now it isn’t.

Instead, Liveleak are now showing The Removal of Fitna Official Liveleak Statement

Following threats to our staff of a very serious nature, and some ill informed reports from certain corners of the British media that could directly affect the safety of some staff members, Liveleak has been left with no other choice but to remove Fitna from our servers.

This is a sad day for freedom of speech on the net but we have to place the safety and well being of our staff above all else. We would like to thank the thousands of people, from all backgrounds and religions, who gave us their support. They realised LiveLeak.com is a vehicle for many opinions and not just for the support of one.

perhaps there is still hope that this situation may produce a discussion that could benefit and educate all of us as to how we can accept one another’s culture.

We stood for what we believe in but, the ability to be heard, but in the end the price was too high

Geert Wilders is not the only Dutch politician making a foray into filmmaking. Ehsan Jami, the Labour Party councillor and founder of the Central Committee for Ex-Muslims, announced in October of last year that he was working on a film project that could turn out to be as controversial as the Mo-Toons.

Yesterday he told the current affairs programme Netwerk that the animated film that will be released on 20th April. Inevitably enough, CMO, the Contact body for Muslims and the Government, has said they will take legal steps to try and prevent the film from being shown.

Elsewhere, Geert Wilders has responded accusations that he is avoiding discussion with opponents by calling for a debate with opponents and supporters after the presentation of his film Fitna.

The website via which Geert Wilders was planning to distribute Fitna, his still inseen anti-Koran film, appears to have been shut down. If you visit the website, it will tell you:

his site has been suspended while Network Solutions is investigating whether the site’s content is in violation of the Network Solutions Acceptable Use Policy. Network Solutions has received a number of complaints regarding this site that are under investigation. For more information about Network Solutions Acceptable Use Policy visit the following URL: http://www.networksolutions.com/legal/aup.jsp

According to Network Solutions, the site’s hosting company, they are investigating complaints that it may have breached guidelines on hate language. How Wilders managed to breach Network Solutions’ guidelines before he released any content has not been explained.

Dutch Prime Minister, Jan-Peter Balkenende said that fellow national European leaders, meeting in Brussels for the spring EU summit, had offered his country broad solidarity should militant demonstrations take place in the Muslim world or in Europe in reaction to the release Geert Wilders’ Fitna.

The Dutch prime minister said he sensed broad agreement from other EU heads of government that they would act together to prevent violence from taking place if, as expected, Mr Wilders manages to have his film shown at some point this month.

At a meeting of fellow Christian Democrat leaders ahead of the summit, Mr Balkenende underlined that while the Dutch government does not support what may be contained in the film, it does nonetheless support Mr Wilders’ right to freedom of expression.

Danish liberal Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen strongly backed his colleague, saying the Netherlands can count on solidarity from other member states.

“Even if we fundamentally disagree with the vision (of Wilders), that can never justify taking violent actions,” said Mr Balkenende.

Dutch Prime Minister, Jan Peter Balkenende is hoping to achieve some European solidarity in the event of violent reactions to Geert Wildeers’ Fitna at the EU summit in Brussels today.

The film is not an official agenda item, but Balkenende will broach the matter during the dinner in the evening. He and other Dutch ministers have been already talking with other European governments about the possible reactions to the film.

The Dutch are hoping for more support than Denmark received two years ago after the Muhammed cartoons were published.

With no broadcaster willing to show Geert Wilders’ Fitna in its entirety, the Dutch politician was planning to screen it in press centre Nieuwspoort in The Hague. This plan has now been abandoned because of the costs of security, which he would have had to cover himself.

Wilders does not want to ask the government for the money and Parliament is not willing to look for an alternative location since that would lead to further talks and delay, so the first screening of this film will be over the internet. The target date is the end of this month.

Wilders has also called on the prime minister and foreign minister to condemn the demonstrations against Fitna which have involved burning of the Dutch flag, as has occurred several times in Afghanistan.

This appears to have happened and Prime Minister, Jan Peter Balkenende has said he is “extremely angry” about the anti-Netherlands protests in Afghanistan in response to the film.

Afghan demonstrators called for “Death to the Netherlands” and demanded the withdrawal of Dutch troops in their country. Balkenende is annoyed because the Dutch mission is in fact focused on contributing to peace and safety. “So I reject what is happening there.”

Balkenende raised the matter with Afghan president Hamid Karzai during the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland at the end of January. He also stressed at the time that Wilders’ film did not reflect the views of the Dutch government.

Not surprisingly, none of the Dutch public or commercial TV channels are willing to broadcast Geert Wilders’ Koran bashing film, Fitna. According to the Volkskrant, Wilders is insisting that anyone who screens part of the film must screen the entire 10 to 15-minute feature, a condition no broadcaster is willing to meet. Wilders is now planning to release the film over the internet.

However, a majority of Dutch people do want the film to be shown - even though they fear it will stoke tension with Muslims. A poll for RTL television found that 54% of the 600 people questioned thought the film should be broadcast although 76 percent expected it to increase tensions between Muslims and non-Muslims and 74 percent saw worsening relations with Arab nations.

And, although Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende and Foreign Minister Maxime Verhagen have been trying to talk Wilders out of releasing his film, French President Nicolas Sarkozy has said that he will support the Netherlands if it comes under attack because of film.

More honourably, Alexander Pechtold of the social liberal D66 has said that Europe must publicly explain the values of freedom of expression and democracy in order to prevent a backlash to the film.

He may want to start in Egypt, where Danish and Dutch filmmakers were barred from an international children’s film festival in Egypt because artists in those countries “insulted Islam”.

Geert Wilders has expressed anger at the lack of support from his political colleagues in The Hague after an Al Qaeda-affiliated website called for the PVV politician to be “slaughtered” for his insults to Islam and the prophet Mohammed. Wilders has accused his parliamentary colleagues of “complete disinterest” regarding the threats and expressed outrage at the passive stance taken by Prime Minister Balkenende, who said in January that the Koran film could lead to a “serious crisis situation.”

Not completely passive, though, as it has also emerged that the Dutch government looked into whether Wilders’ film could be banned before it was released. Sources close to the cabinet have confirmed that the government prosecutor has investigated whether there are legal grounds to prevent the film from being released. Such a ban would be opposed by the socialist PvdA.

Meanwhile, in Afghanistan, several hundred people took to the streets to demonstrate that knowing nothing about a film is no barrier to objecting to it. Objecting to both the reprinting of the Mo-Toons (but not the murder plot that led to the reprinting) and Wilders’ still unreleased film, the demonstrators burned Dutch and Danish flags and called on the government to expel both the Dutch and Danish embassies from Afghanistan and stop any diplomatic relations with the two countries.

Following this demonstration Nato’s secretary general, Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, has expressed concern that the film - if released - will have repercussions for troops in Afghanistan.