Netherlands daily newspaper De Volkskrant reported on January 12 that the Dutch public prosecutors’ Office has brought additional charges against Geert Wilders, the leader of the populist Freedom Party in parliament. Last year, the Amsterdam court ruled that his statements regarding Muslims and Islam may constitute criminal offences and ordered the public prosecutors’ office to prosecute Wilders for incitement to hatred and discrimination against Muslims. The prosecutors’ office has now decided to add the charge of incitement to hatred against Moroccans and non-Western immigrants.
Haroon Raza, one of the lawyers who filed the original complaint against Mr Wilders, said he was “delighted” with the decision. “Mr Wilders is not just focussing on Muslims, but also on non-Western immigrants, in other words, people of colour”. The lawyer says the Public Prosecutors’ Office now stands a better chance to secure a conviction: “Mr Wilders insists he is attacking Islam, not Muslims, but ethnicity is always about people. So you can’t say: ‘I didn’t mean it like that’.”
Wilders enraged Muslims worldwide with his film "Fitna" in 2008. He was banned from the UK out of concern that his presence would present controversy in Britain.
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