Criticizing Islam is criticizing Muslims ~ presents real problems around freedom of speech ~ if this case is won by the defense/Muslim/left-wing groups ~ then it opens floodgates for what will be in effect a blasphemy law. One wedged into the race/hate slot. Or masked behind it. I'm sure Muslim nations will be wielding their swords in joy ~ but the problem with it is drawing the line ~ who will be allowed to criticize Islam ~ the apostate? Will apostates be given exemption and others not?
No doubt Muslim groups will push for next ~ apostates from Islam to be silenced ~ to protect their feelings ~ of course.
And if you are not allowed to criticize Islam ~ why not go one step further and stop people from criticizing Christianity or the west even. When Muslims talk about western atrocities ~ it could be construed in a hateful way and what they really mean is to rubbish western people and the societies that they have immigrated to ~ for the purpose of creating an Islamic state ~ i.e. the destruction of the west.
All so Islam can rise like the mythical phoenix from its pile of ashes.
Yes, yes ~ if the Dutch courts can pull this off ~ what we need to do is to drag Muslims into court on the same grounds ~ and get them to say only favorable things about the west, Europe, America, and even Israel!
~ What you really meant when you said those things about the CIA ~ is that you 'hate' all Americans!! Yes, we should have a trial to determine exactly what you meant!
According to the ultra-leftwing Dutch lawyer Spong ~ this case is supposed to bring about decency [by any means] ~ but here is a version of decency ~ coming to Europe from the stark realities of the Atlas mountains and the endless outback of Turkey, getting healthcare, housing, schooling, food, and then turning around and saying, thank you ~ how can we help you. Not how can I take even more! And certainly not ~ how can I take the whole country - for Islam and Muslims!
Islam will dominate nothing ~ here in Europe!
A court in Amsterdam on Monday has ruled that the hate speech trial of Dutch anti-Islam MP Geert Wilders will go on, with new judges listening to the defense’s preliminary objections to the case. Those objections were already heard by a different panel of judges last year, but a retrial was ordered because of possible judicial bias against Wilders. The populist politician is charged with inciting hatred and discrimination against Muslims and other non-Western groups.
If judges accept Mr. Wilders’ objections to the proceedings to be argued at a later date, then his case will be dismissed. If not, the trial will continue with Geert Wilders being allowed to question only some of the witnesses he wanted to call in his defense.
He told judges last week that he wanted to question radical Islamists, what this court referred to as Islamic experts by experience, including convicted murderer Mohammed Bouyeri, who killed filmmaker Theo van Gogh seven years ago. Wilders argues that Bouyeri is living proof that Islam leads to violence.
But judges said the court already knows there’s a violent strain in some Islamic corners and limited Wilders’ witness list to a few Islamic experts and a controversial judge who the politician believes biased his case.
Wilders maintains it’s not Muslims but the Islamic religion and the Koran he’s taken on -- something allowed under Dutch regulations concerning freedom of speech.
In court last week, he continued his anti-Muslim rhetoric, calling Islam evil and the societies it dominates retarded. Such talk has made him a popular politician in the Netherlands, where his Freedom Party is a crucial ally of the right-wing government. Judges also ruled that the trial would remain in Amsterdam and not in The Hague where Wilders works and where he’s gearing up for March’s local elections.
Wilders said he wasn’t happy about that, but he’ll be back in court when it resumes at a later date.
VOA
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