Dutch anti-Islam lawmaker loses bid to stop hate speech trial

http://www.thenews.com.pk/updates.asp?id=78212

THE HAGUE: Far-right Dutch lawmaker Geert Wilders lost a legal bid Wednesday to stop his pending trial for inciting hatred and discrimination against Muslims. "The attorney general is of the opinion that there are no grounds" for a further appeal, the Dutch Supreme Court said in a statement. Lawyers for Wilders had sought to overturn a ruling by the Amsterdam Court of Appeals in January that he should be prosecuted for a series of public anti- Muslim statements, particularly for comparing Islam to Nazism. "I am being prosecuted for saying about Islam what millions of Dutch think. Freedom of expression is at risk of being offered at the altar of Islam." The January appeals court judgment had followed numerous complaints from citizens over the Public Prosecution Service's initial refusal to press charges against Wilders. Wilders is the maker of a 17-minute film, "Fitna," which has been called " offensively anti-Islamic" by U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon. The screening of the film in the Netherlands last year prompted protests in much of the Muslim world, including Afghanistan, Indonesia, Iran and Pakistan.