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Iran Asks Dutch Gov't to Ban Anti-Islam Film

Right-wing pol's movie shows Koran as inspiration for murder

By Nick McMaster,  Newser Staff

Posted Feb 17, 2008 2:35 PM CST

(Newser) – Upset by a right-wing Dutch politician's movie, which portrays the Koran as an inspiration for murder, Iran’s justice minister is asking the Dutch government to ban the film, the BBC reports. The minister called the film, by parliament member Geert Wilders, an unnecessary attack on Islam’s holiest object. The Dutch government has so far supported Wilder’s right to show the film, which is set to air in a few months.

"We must not allow the freedom of speech to be used as a cover for assaulting the sensibilities and exalted moral and religious values which are respected by all of humanity," the minister wrote. Wilders may have to leave the country; another filmmaker  was murdered in 2004 after a film about abused Muslim women.

An activist, holding a placard describing Dutch MP Geert Wilders as an extremist and harmful to Dutch society, pickets a market in Amsterdam, Netherlands, Saturday, Jan. 19, 2008. The maverick lawmaker's planned anti-Quran film has the Dutch wrestling with the limits of their centuries-old traditions of tolerance and freedom of...
An activist, holding a placard describing Dutch MP Geert Wilders as an extremist and harmful to Dutch society, pickets a market in Amsterdam, Netherlands, Saturday, Jan. 19, 2008. The maverick lawmaker's...   (Associated Press)
Right wing parliament member Geert Wilders, right, Socialist Party members Harry van Bommel, center, and Krista van Velsen, left, take part in a candlelight vigil outside the Iranian embassy protesting reports of a death sentence of a Dutch-Iranian Abdoullah Al-Mansouri in The Hague, Netherlands, in this Oct. 30, 2007 file...
Right wing parliament member Geert Wilders, right, Socialist Party members Harry van Bommel, center, and Krista van Velsen, left, take part in a candlelight vigil outside the Iranian embassy protesting...   (Associated Press)
Geert Wilders, second right, in this May 26, 2005 file photo. The Dutch conservative lawmaker is making a film to highlight what he describes as fascist passages in the Quran, his latest high profile criticism of Islam. Less than 10 minutes long, the film will show the intolerant and fascist...
Geert Wilders, second right, in this May 26, 2005 file photo. The Dutch conservative lawmaker is making a film to highlight what he describes as "fascist" passages in the Quran, his latest high profile...   (Associated Press)
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