Author: Reuters
Publication: The Times of India
Date: February 13, 2009
URL: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/World/Dutch-anti-Islam-politician-turned-away-from-Britain-/articleshow/4120916.cms
[Note from the Hindu Vivek Kendra: UK tolerates
hate speeches by the Islamists, even those which call for death to their opponents.
They tolerate meetings where posters asking for such punishment to be openly
displayed.]
Right-wing Dutch legislator Geert Wilders,
who is being prosecuted at home for anti-Islam remarks, said he was barred
from entering Britain on Thursday after he landed in defiance of a government
ban.
Wilders wanted to show his film "Fitna",
which argues that the Koran incites violence, in the British parliament. But
he was told by British authorities on Tuesday that he was being excluded.
Despite that, he took a flight to London.
"I am in a detention centre at Heathrow
... I will not be allowed to enter the country. They will send me back within
a few hours," Wilders said.
"It is a very sad day, not only for me,
but for freedom of speech," he said.
Britain's Home Office (interior ministry)
said he would not be allowed entry into Britain, but gave no other details.
Wilders told Dutch television on Tuesday that
the British government had sent him a letter saying it believed his statements
about "Muslims and their beliefs, as expressed in your film 'Fitna' and
elsewhere, would threaten community harmony and therefore public security
in the United Kingdom".
Wilders' exclusion caused a diplomatic spat
between the Netherlands and Britain.
"It is highly regrettable that a Dutch
MP (member of parliament) should be denied entry to another EU country,"
Dutch foreign minister Maxime Verhagen said in a statement on the Dutch Embassy's
British web site.
It said Verhagen had telephoned his British
counterpart David Miliband to "express his displeasure" that a Dutch
member of parliament had been excluded.
Miliband defended the British decision. "A
hate-filled film designed to stir up religious and racial hatred in this country
is contrary to our laws," he told the BBC.
The Netherlands has condemned the film, which
was aired over the Internet last March, saying it served no other purpose
than causing offence. An Amsterdam court has ordered Wilders' prosecution
for inciting hatred and discrimination based on comments in various media
on Muslims and their beliefs.
