[Al Arabiya Latest] An Amsterdam court agreed Wednesday to hear a case against Dutch far-right lawmaker Geert Wilders on charges of inciting racial hatred against Muslims."This court is the competent body to examine the case," judge Jan Moors said, dismissing a challenge by Wilders to the court's jurisdiction.
The 46-year-old lawmaker, creator of the anti-Islam film Fitna, is accused of five counts of religious insult and anti-Muslim incitement for describing Islam as a fascist religion and calling for the banning of the Quran, which he has likened to Hitler's Mein Kampf.
His lawyer argued last month that the Supreme Court, not the district court in Amsterdam, was the competent authority to hear cases of alleged misconduct by an MP.
Wilders says he had made his statements as a public representative of his Party for Freedom, which has nine out of 150 parliamentary seats.
But prosecutors said expressing an opinion in the media was not part of an MP's duties.
"Parliamentary immunity does not extend to what a public representative says or writes outside of parliamentary gatherings," judge Moors agreed.
Facing up to one year in jail if convicted, Wilders believes his trial is a "political process".
His 17-minute film was called "offensively anti-Islamic" by U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon after its screening in the Netherlands in 2008 prompted protests in much of the Muslim world.