Thursday - June 23, 2011

A Win For Common Sense

A Dutch court acquitted populist politician Geert Wilders of hate speech and discrimination Thursday, ruling that his anti-Islam statements, while offensive to many Muslims, fell within the bounds of legitimate political debate.

Presiding judge Marcel van Oosten said Wilders’ claims that Islam is violent by nature, and his calls to halt Muslim immigration and ban the Muslim holy book, the Quran, must be seen in a wider context of debate over immigration policy.

The court said his public statements could not be directly linked to increased discrimination against Dutch Muslims.

Wilders sat stone-faced while the judge read the ruling, but smiled broadly and shook hands with his lawyers after the verdict was announced. He waved to cheering supporters who hugged each other in the public gallery, and grinned as he left the courtroom.

Wilders, one of the most powerful and popular politicians in the Netherlands, was accused of inciting hatred and discrimination against Muslims through numerous public statements, and with insulting them by comparing Islam with Naziism.

“I’m incredibly happy with this acquittal on all counts,” Wilders said outside the courtroom.

“It’s not only an acquittal for me, but a victory for freedom of expression in the Netherlands. Fortunately you’re allowed to discuss Islam in public debate and you’re not muzzled in public debate. An enormous burden has fallen from my shoulders,” he said.

Lawyer Ties Prakken, who represented some complainants, was quoted by local media as saying Dutch courts are failing to protect a religious minority from discrimination. With legal avenues in the Netherlands exhausted, she said she’s preparing an appeal to the U.N. Commission on Human Rights in Geneva.

The court found that Wilders’ rhetoric was “on the edge of what is legally permissible” but not illegal.

On the edge? If anything, Wilders’ statements were fairly mild IMO. The Netherlands is suffering from a tsunami of mooseslime immigration, and those new “citizens” are responsible for a huge part of the rapes and violence in that nation. Their anti-Semitic tirades are very similar to Hitler’s in Mein Kampf. Wilders’ film fitna may have been rough, but it pointed out a core truth: the koran is a nasty hate-filled book that incites people to violence. To ignore all this, to stifle it under the oppressive stamp of “hate speech” would be asinine and suicidal. Were he calling for mass deportations, I’d be right with him.

Posted by Drew458     on 06/23/2011 at 07:10 AM   
Filed Under: • FREEDOM • RoPMA •  
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