Arrested Dutch Cartoonist Speaks Out in Denmark
NIS NEWS BULLETIN: COPENHAGEN - For the first time since his arrest, Dutch cartoonist Gregorius Nekschot has spoken in public. This did not take place in the Netherlands though but in Denmark, at the invitation of the Free Press Society.

The organisation wished to give Nekschot a platform in Copenhagen in protest against "that shameless Netherlands, with that shameless government, which is endangering freedom to speech," the president of the Free Press Society, Lars Hedegaard, said in De Volkskrant newspaper yesterday.

The Dutch cartoonist wore an Islamic all-enveloping robe in Copenhagen, making him totally unrecognisable. He chose a nikab as a statement against Islam as a suffocating ideology, but also to show that he has been living in "a prison" for almost a year although he has not been physically locked up.

The then relatively unknown cartoonist was arrested in his home in Amsterdam on 13 May 2008 for causing offence and inciting to hatred. He is still awaiting a decision from the Public Prosecutors' Office (OM) on whether he will be prosecuted.

Nekschot, who has never dared to show his face or reveal his true name in the media, stated the arrest has put him in danger. His anonymity is at risk; if he is prosecuted, everyone will know who he is - including Muslim extremists. "Look what happened to Theo van Gogh," De Volkskrant quoted him as saying.

After the Danish cartoon riots, the Dutch government set up an 'Interdepartmental Work Group on Cartoon Problems'. Nekschot says he was arrested by this group - "the most ridiculous institution ever in Dutch history" - as a gesture to the Arab world. [Source: NIS News Bulletin] Thirsday, February 5, 2009

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Dutch Soldiers at Risk over Geert Wilders’ Anti-Koran Film
This is ridiculous! Geert Wilders has no need to “besmirch the Koran." The Koran speaks for itself. Read it!

THE TELEGRAPH: Dutch soldiers serving with Nato in Afghanistan will face new threats if their country allows the broadcast of an anti-Islamic film, Bozorgmehr Ziaran, Iran's ambassador to the Netherlands, has said.

He announced his intention to rally global Muslim opinion against plans by Geert Wilders, the maverick Dutch MP, to show a short movie attacking the Koran.

Mr Ziaran also fuelled fears of a violent backlash by issuing a veiled threat that Dutch troops would be regarded as "representatives of people who besmirch the Koran".

"Afghans will view these troops as there to take our power, to destroy us and to ruin our values," he told De Volkskrant newspaper.

But Mr Wilders, the controversial leader of the anti-immigration Dutch Freedom Party (PVV) has vowed to ignore "daily death threats" and pressure from the authorities by broadcasting his film next month on the Koran, which he compares to Adolf Hitler's Mein Kampf.

"The serious threats to my life and the Dutch government's panicked response to my film underline the truth of what I am saying. The Koran is dangerous," he said.

"I am human so I sometimes feel real fear but I will not let the politics of fear stop me from saying what must be said." Dutch soldiers 'at risk' over anti-Koran film: >>> By Joan Clements in The Hague and Bruno Waterfield

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