Dutch anti-Islam lawmaker Geert Wilders acquitted

Dutch far-right lawmaker Geert Wilders walked away from hate speech and discrimination charges yesterday for statements made attacking Islam, calling his acquittal a victory for freedom of speech.

“You are being acquitted on all the charges that were put against you,” Judge Marcel van Oosten told Mr Wilders who has been on trial in the Amsterdam regional court since October last year.

The flamboyant MP faced five counts of hate speech and dis­crimination for his anti-Islamic remarks on websites, Internet forums and in Dutch newspapers between October 2006 and March 2008, and in his controversial 17-minute movie Fitna (Discord in Arabic).

He also compared the Koran with Hitler’s Mein Kampf while in Fitna he used shocking images of the September 11 attacks in the US and other onslaughts against Western targets interspersed with verses from the Muslim holy book.

“The bench finds that your statements are acceptable within the context of the public debate,” the judge told the platinum-haired politician, whose case was boosted by a prosecution unwilling to take aim at him.

“The bench finds that, although gross and denigrating, it did not give rise to hatred,” said Judge van Oosten.

The 47-year-old Mr Wilders, whose right-wing Party for Freedom (PVV) lends its support to the right-leaning Dutch coalition government, told journalists afterwards he was “overjoyed and very happy” to have been acquitted.

“It is not only a victory for me but also a victory for freedom of speech,” he said outside the courtroom.

He added: “It means it is legal to criticise Islam.”

The acquittal comes after Mr Wilders last month argued before judges that he was “defending freedom in the Netherlands” against Islam.

One of Europe’s most heavily-guarded politicians, the lawmaker told the court he was “obliged to speak” because The Netherlands is “under threat” from Islam.

Mr Wilders’s trial comes against a backdrop of plans by the central-right Dutch government to move away from a multi­cultural approach towards a tougher stance against those who ignore Dutch values and break the law.

His lawyer Bram Moszkowicz said the judgment was of huge importance.

“A politician, in the context of public debate, can say a little more and go a bit further than you and I,” he told journalists.

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said the judgment was clear and conformed with the prosecution’s position.

“That is good news for Geert Wilders, with whom we work together well in our alliance,” he told Dutch news agency ANP.

But a lawyer representing plaintiffs in the case, said they were disappointed by its outcome.

“We noticed that the court attached a lot of value to the statements Wilders made that he had nothing against Muslims,” Els Lucas told ANP.