> Dutch MP posts Islam film on web
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> http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7317506.stm
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> Dutch right-wing politician Geert Wilders has posted a controversial
> film critical of Islam's holy book, the Koran, on the internet.
> The opening scenes show a copy of the Koran, followed by footage of
> the attacks on the US on 11 September 2001.
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> The 17-minute film was posted on video-sharing website LiveLeak.
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> Its planned release had sparked angry protests in Muslim countries.
> Dutch PM Jan Peter Balkenende said the film wrongly equated Islam with
> violence.
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> "We believe it serves no purpose other than to offend," he said in a
> statement.
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> "But feeling offended must never be used as an excuse for aggression
> and threats."
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> The film is called "Fitna", a Koranic term sometimes translated as
> "strife".
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> Dutch broadcasters have declined to show the production by 44-year-old
> Freedom Party (PVV) leader Mr Wilders, who lives under police protection
> because of earlier death threats.
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> 'Spiteful'
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> Graphic images from the bomb attacks on London in July 2005 and Madrid
> in March 2004 are shown.
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> Pictures of a woman being stoned, scenes from a beheading and images
> of the Dutch director Theo van Gogh, who was murdered by a radical Islamist
> in 2004, are also included.
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> And pictures appearing to show Muslim demonstrators holding up
> placards saying "God bless Hitler" and "Freedom go to hell" also feature.
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> The film shows a young girl in a headscarf making derogatory comments
> about Jewish people.
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> Mr Wilders was lambasted at an Amsterdam protest this month
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> It also displays a graph showing how the number of Muslims in the
> Netherlands and Europe has grown.
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> The film ends with someone turning pages of a Koran, followed by a
> tearing sound.
>
> A text that appears on the screen says: "The sound you heard was from
> a page (being torn from a) phone book.
>
> "It is not up to me, but up to the Muslims themselves to tear the
> spiteful verses from the Koran."
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> The film concludes: "Stop Islamisation. Defend our freedom."
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> Two years ago the publication in Denmark of cartoons depicting the
> Prophet Muhammad sparked protests across the Muslim world.
>
> But Brahim Bourzik, a spokesman for a Dutch Moroccan group, told
> Reuters news agency he did not believe Mr Wilders' film would spark fury
> from Muslims in Holland.
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> "It is not a film, it is propaganda," he said. "All the elements have
> been seen before, there is nothing new in it."
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> The UK-based website which allowed the film to be posted online
> defended its decision on Thursday.
>
> "LiveLeak.com has a strict stance on remaining unbiased and allowing
> freedom of speech so far as the law and our rules allow," it said in a
> statement posted online.
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> Should the film have been posted on the internet? Send us your views.
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