Dutch Islam basher prosecuted for hate crime
A Dutch citizen who put up a poster stating "stop the Islam cancer growth" (Dutch) was prosecuted after the public prosecutor received complaints from aggrieved citizens in 2004.
Today the Dutch High Court, the highest Court of Justice in the land, issued the verdict that the citizen was not culpable. The Court motivated its decision by stating that although the law objects to insulting a religious group, it does not object to insulting religious belief. This new jurisprudence of article 137c of the Dutch Penal Code (Dutch) has bearing on the case of Geert Wilders who is being prosecuted for fiercely criticizing Islamic belief and Islamic Scripture.
So it is possible to say "Islam is bad", but saying "Muslims are bad" still gets one in trouble legally.
The bearing of this verdict on the Wilders Case
This verdict of the High Court makes it less likely that Geert Wilders will in fact be prosecuted and convicted under Hate Crime Legislation as demanded by the Amsterdam Court of Appeal.
Such a shame. The Freedom Party was making hay over the prosecution of its leader Geert Wilders. Opinion polls showed that the Freedom Party (PVV) had become the biggest party in The Netherlands if election had been held recently.
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