[Reader-list] Anti-Islam film's maker blasts UK over ban

[Aditya Raj Kaul]

 Anti-Islam film's maker blasts UK over ban

*LONDON, England (CNN)* -- Controversial Dutch filmmaker Geert Wilders
condemned as "crazy and cowardly" Britain's refusal to let him enter the
country Thursday.
[image: Geert Wilders shows his passport and boarding pass at Amsterdam's
Schiphol airport before leaving for London.]

Geert Wilders shows his passport and boarding pass at Amsterdam's Schiphol
airport before leaving for London.

Wilders, a Dutch lawmaker who produced a much-criticized film about Islam
last year, flew to London for a screening of the movie despite being told a
day earlier he would not be admitted.

"I still believed and hoped that they would change their tune," he told CNN
by telephone, saying he was speaking from a detention room at London's
Heathrow Airport.

He said he was met by customs officers as soon as he left the plane.

"They took me to a detention center," Wilders said, and there he was
interviewed "for 45 seconds" before they took his passport and left.

Wilders had been invited to screen his film, "Fitna," at the House of Lords
on Thursday evening. The 15-minute film features disturbing images of
terrorist acts superimposed over verses from Islam's holy book, the Quran,
to paint Islam as a threat to Western society.

The British ambassador to the Netherlands told him Wednesday that he would
be refused entry into Britain because the beliefs expressed in the film
would threaten public security.

Britain's Home Office said barring Wilders is allowed under European Union
law, which permits states to refuse entry on the grounds of public policy,
public security or public health.

"The government opposes extremism in all its forms," said a Home Office
spokesman, who would not be identified, in line with policy. "It will stop
those who want to spread extremism, hatred and violent messages in our
communities from coming to our country."

Wilders is a member of the Dutch parliament for the right-wing Party for
Freedom. He released "Fitna" online in March 2008 to immediate controversy.

The 15-minute film features disturbing images of terrorist acts superimposed
over verses from Islam's holy book, the Quran, to paint Islam as a threat to
Western society.

Caroline Cox, a member of Britain's House of Lords who is not affiliated
with a political party, invited Wilders to screen his film at a private
session in parliament. She told CNN that she wanted lawmakers to see the
film to provoke discussion.

"We're showing it on the basis of freedom of speech," said Cox, who has been
a free speech advocate throughout her career. "It's a serious showing, with
serious concerns and serious consideration."

Cox said she disagreed with the government's decision to bar Wilders, who
was also scheduled to discuss the film.

"I think it's appalling," she told CNN. "(For) the British government to
prevent a European parliamentarian coming to speak to parliamentarians over
here is very disturbing. I think it will be ready by many people as a sign
of appeasement to threat and intimidation."

After its release, the movie drew complaints from the European Union and the
Organization of the Islamic Conference, as well as concern from the United
States, which warned it could spark riots.

Dutch authorities filed charges against Wilders last month, accusing him of
inciting racial hatred in speeches and in the film.

"Fitna" opens with a controversial caricature of the Prophet Mohammed
wearing a turban shaped like a bomb, followed by translated portions of the
Quran. The passages are interspersed with graphic images of the September
11, 2001, terrorist attacks against the United States, juxtaposed with audio
from 911 calls made by the victims trapped inside the World Trade Center in
New York.

The video includes images of other terror attacks; bloodied victims;
beheadings of hostages; executions of women in hijab, the traditional
full-body covering; and footage, with subtitles, of Islamic leaders
preaching inflammatory sermons against Jews and Christians.

In his interview with the BBC, Wilders said he does not hate Muslims but
opposes the "Islamization" of the European continent.

The title "Fitna," is Arabic for "strife" or "conflict" of the type that
occurs within families or any other homogenous group.

Five years ago, Dutch director Theo van Gogh was stabbed to death by a
member of a radical Islamic group after his short film "Submission" used
verses from the Quran written on women's bodies to criticize the treatment
of women in Islamic cultures.
His co-producer on the project, Somali-born former Dutch lawmaker Ayaan
Hirsi Ali, lived under government protection for several years after van
Gogh's killing. She now lives in the United States.