Dutch court clears Muslim group over Holocaust cartoon

[Cees Binkhorst]

REPLY TO: D66 at nic.surfnet.nl

Nog niet op Nederlands nieuws gezien ;)

Groet / Cees

Last update - 13:35 23/04/2010  	 	 	
Dutch court clears Muslim group over Holocaust cartoon
By Reuters

A Dutch court has acquitted a Muslim group of inciting hatred with a
cartoon that questions the Holocaust, in the latest case to provoke
debate about freedom of speech in the Netherlands.

The Arab European League (AEL), which published the cartoon on its
website, was cleared of insulting Jews because it was not aiming to
dispute the Holocaust but to highlight perceived double standards in
free speech.

The AEL cartoon shows two men, beneath an 'Auschwitz' sign and beside
several bodies, saying the victims might not have been Jewish but the
target was six million - the number of Jews killed in the Holocaust.
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The AEL said the cartoon was part of a campaign it launched In 2006 to
show "the double morals of the West during the Danish cartoon affair".
The image came with a disclaimer on the website saying the AEL did not
support the views of the cartoon.

"The context in which this cartoon was published takes away from its
criminally offensive nature," the court said in a ruling published on
its Web site on Thursday.

A cartoon in a Danish newspaper in 2005 showing Islam's Prophet Mohammed
with a bomb in his turban sparked violent protests in Muslim countries.
The backlash prompted the newspaper to apologise, but the Danish
government defended its right to freedom of expression.

As a supporter of free speech, the AEL did not complain about the
republication of the Prophet Mohammed cartoons in the Netherlands. But
it argued its own cartoon was meant to show that other religious
communities were also sensitive about certain images.

Tensions over immigration and the rights of religious groups are
increasingly testing the attitudes of the liberal Dutch.

A spate of recent cases have struck at the heart of the Dutch
constitution, raising questions about when free speech crosses the line
and becomes discrimination.

Dutch anti-immigration politician Geert Wilders is facing charges of
inciting hatred against Muslims

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