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| Europe |
| Dutch court acquits Geert Wilders in hate speech case |
| 2011-06-23 |
| Populist anti-immigration politician was charged for comments against Muslims in case testing freedom of speech in the Netherlands. A Dutch court on Thursday acquitted populist politician Geert Wilders of charges of inciting hatred against Muslims, in a case that tested freedom of speech in the traditionally liberal country. The court case has attracted attention, not just because of Geert Wilders' controversial comments about Islam -- which he compared to Nazism -- but also because of the increasing influence of his political party, which supports the minority Dutch government on economic and other issues. The Dutch court late last year approved a request from Wilders to have new judges for his trial on charges of inciting hatred against Muslims, forcing the court to start the case again. Wilders' lawyer had asked the court to replace the current judges, raising concerns about bias after they did not immediately approve a request to hear an expert witness. "This gives me a new chance of a new fair trial. I am confident that I can only be acquitted because I have broken no law, but spoken the truth," Wilders told Reuters at the time, arguing that his comments were covered by freedom of speech. Unusually, the prosecution team have also asked for an acquittal, arguing that politicians have the right to comment on problem issues and that Wilders was not trying to foment violence or division. However, the judges have the power to convict regardless of the prosecution's stance. |
| Posted by:tipper |
| #3 First step , the abandonment of that crazy multicultural policy. The Dutch government says it will abandon the long-standing model of multiculturalism that has encouraged Muslim immigrants to create a parallel society within the Netherlands. |
| Posted by: tipper 2011-06-23 23:00 |
| #2 This trial has actually been a godsend to Wilders and his party. Though they are the junior member of the coalition in power, the majority party has to do a lot of what they say, but it doesn't get much press. This is risky, because they could fade from public view before the next election. However, because of this blatantly unfair trial, Geert has been front and center in the news as the good guy while being attacked by ideologues more than willing to cheat to win. What luck! In any event, his next move should be for his party to lean on the senior coalition member to just eviscerate this hate speech law. Once that is done, to *not* come out with both barrels against Muslim extremists. He doesn't need to, because everyone knows what he is thinking. So he should get with his party, and plan a platform that will just smite the left and the fanatics, kicking a LOT of foreigners out of the country. IF they are elected to the majority. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2011-06-23 13:47 |
| #1 mmm i just commented, but it didn't show up? Wilders was right. Some strands of Islam contain fascist political ideology just like Nazism And freedom to criticise religion is the fundamental plank of freedom of speech, something we must never lose. go check out YouTube and WIlders' film Fitnah - it shows why we must protect our societies internally from this religious dogma. And bring the troops home from overseas. Time to stop avoiding the issue. It's domestic. We need to tackle the limits of multiculturalism. that was pretty much all i wanted to say... |
| Posted by: anon1 2011-06-23 06:32 |