Geert Wilders a Dutch member of parliament (MP), and belongs to the Party for Freedom, is currently on trail in Amsterdam for violating laws against blasphemy, or laws against insulting groups of people, but charged with inciting hatred.
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Mr. Wilders is known for a short film he made, Fitna, which Muslims around the world found offensive. As a result he was prohibited from entering the United Kingdom (UK) after a mob notified authorities there will be massive demonstrations which possibly could lead to rioting if Mr. Wilders was allowed to enter the UK. UK authorities gave into the mob and denied Mr. Wilders entry.
A little while after that incident, he traveled throughout the USA showing the film, without incident.
Public prosecutors originally declined to charge Mr. Wilders with any crime, claiming his public comments were protected under free speech. But an appeals court last January ordered prosecutors to proceed with the charges, saying politicians should not be allowed to make “statements which create hate and grief.”
If convicted on all counts Mr. Wilders could spend more than a year in jail.
On January 21st, 2010, The New York Post wrote,
“How do you say free speech in Dutch? Apparently, you don’t.”
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The end of the article read:
“But last time we checked, confident, free societies don’t lock people up for simply expressing their views.
Holland is rapidly becoming anything but.”
Link to The New York Post article:
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/opinion/editorials/dutch_cowardice_YU9TxTqqBYe4Vb2FRabV6J
For the USA this is a freedom of speech issue protected by the First Ten Amendments, known as The Bill of Rights, to the USA Constitution. However in Europe free speech apparently takes on a different interpretation than that in the United States.
Geert Wilders Netherlands Nederlanden The New York Post Birgit van Roessel Bram Moszkowwicz Dutch free speech EU European Union United States constitution Europe UK United Kingdom propagandabuster propaganda buster politically correct inflammatory speech blasphemy
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