Geert Wilders, 45, a Dutch politician and the leader of Freedom Party, which holds nine of the 120 seats in the Dutch Parliament, had been refused entry to the United Kingdom to broadcast his film Fitna in the House of Lords. He was initially invited by a Member of Parliament to show the movie, which talks about the nature of Islam and accuses it of being a violent religion. The film features verses from the Koran alongside images of the terrorist attacks in the US on 11 September 2001, Madrid in March 2004 and London in July 2005. It equates Islam’s texts with violence and ends with a call to Muslims to remove ‘hate-preaching’ verses from the Koran. Mr Wilders was told by the British Embassy in a letter on Tuesday that he could not set foot in the country.
(See the letter at http://www.foxnews.com/projects/pdf/wilders_letter.pdf)
The Home Office refused to comment specifically on the ban, but it said it “opposes extremism in all its forms” and would work to “stop those who want to spread extremism, hatred and violent messages in our communities from coming to our country.”
Mr Wilders is under 24-hour police protection because of the stance he has taken on Islam. He has been receiving death threats from Muslim groups outside Holland since Fitna appeared on the internet earlier this year. He said he was bewildered by the ban, but responded to the decision by telling reporters that he still intended to travel to London.
“I’m an elected member of Parliament; I have done nothing wrong,” he told Dutch radio. “I’m a normal, law-abiding democrat. You might agree or disagree with my political point of view, but I’m no threat to anyone.” He added: “I’ll see what happens at the border.”
Dutch Foreign Minister Maxime Verhagen called British foreign secretary David Miliband to protest against the decision and commented regarding the showing of Fitna in the British parliament that this was a matter for the House of Lords to decide on. He added: “the fact that a Dutch parliamentarian is refused entry to another EU country is highly regrettable.”
(http://www.radionetherlands.nl/currentaffairs/region/netherlands/090210-wilders-britain-banned)
The decision of the government is surprising if compared to its recent record. In 2005, the former Lord Mayor of London welcomed Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi, a highly influential Islamist who publicly advocates for suicide bombing and murdering homosexuals (http://www.newstatesman.com/200501240019). More recently, in 2008, the government allowed the chief spokesman for Hezbollah to enter the country. In addition, in January 2009, it allowed a group of Muslims to march through British streets shouting insults at the Metropolitan Police and support for Hamas; closed eyes on the fact that Hizb ut Tahrir group recruits on campus for the jihad against Britain and the west; and took no action against a Muslim peer who threatens mass intimidation of Parliament.
Lord Ahmed, who was created a life peer in 1998 by the Labour Government and was the first Muslim peer, threatened personally to mobilise 10,000 Muslims to prevent Mr Wilders from entering the Upper House and planned to take the peer organising the event to court. (For the background information see http://www.ccfon.org/view.php?id=682)
Recently, Lord Ahmed has joined forces with a number of British-based Islamists to sign a letter praising Turkey’s Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who walked out of a recent debate after a bitter argument with President Shimon Peres over Gaza.
(http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1233304755031&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull)
BBC News
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7884967.stm
Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/02/10/AR2009021002552.html
Daily Mail
Radio Netherlands
http://www.radionetherlands.nl/currentaffairs/region/netherlands/090210-wilders-britain-banned