Geert Wilders: Defence witnesses disallowed

Free Speech on Trial: 15 Defense Witnesses Disallowed

by Hillel Fendel

IsraelNN.com) The free-speech trial of anti-Islamization Fitna movie-producer Geert Wilders has taken a break – after the court rejected 15 of Wilders’ requested witnesses. Some Dutch analysts following the trial said the decision “indicates the court’s bias against Wilders, and so does not bode well for him.”

Wilders, leader of the PVV (Party for Freedom) in the Netherlands, is on trial in Amsterdam, charged on five counts of insulting Muslims, discriminating against Muslims, and incitement to hatred.

Wilders is well-known for his outspoken opposition to the Islamization of Europe in general and Holland in particular. His 2008 movie Fitna (see below) dramatically shows the aims and means of extremist Islam, and ends with a call for Europe to defeat Islamic ideology, just as it once defeated the threats of Nazism and Communism.

In the court's most recent session, on Tuesday, the judges turned down most of his requests for witnesses, agreeing to hear only three of the 18 for whom he asked. The only ones deemed "competent" and acceptable are Dutch Arabists Hans Jansen and Dr. Simon Admiraal, and Syrian-born Wafa Sultan, who is outspoken in promoting her view that Islam is "not only a religion, but is also a political ideology that preaches violence and applies its agenda by force."

Wilders responded with anger to the decision, saying “This Court is not interested in the truth and doesn’t want me to have a fair trial. I can’t have any respect for this. This Court would not be out of place in a dictatorship.”

Be sure to read the rest of this column, and take a look at the Fitna video here.

If you think this couldn't happen where you live, think again.