Brits Ban Geert Wilders

Dutch protest Britain's ban of right-wing lawmaker

The British government banned Dutch right-wing lawmaker Geert Wilders from visiting the country to show his anti-Islam film "Fitna" at the Houses of Parliament, Wilders said Tuesday.

Wilders said he was invited by a member of British Parliament's upper house, the House of Lords, to show his 15-minute film, which criticizes the Quran as a "fascist book."

But he was informed Tuesday in a letter from the British Embassy he would not be allowed into Britain.

The film sparked violent protests around the Muslim world last year for linking Quranic verses with footage of terrorist attacks.

In a telephone interview Wilders called the decision "cowardly" and vowed to defy it.

"Let them try to detain me," he told The Associated Press, adding that he had lunch in the British House of Lords in December.

Foreign Minister Maxime Verhagen said the Dutch government would press Britain to reverse the ban and said he "deeply regretted" that a Dutch lawmaker had been barred access.

Britain's Home Office, which is responsible for immigration issues, said it had no specific comment to make about Wilders' case.

But in a statement the Home Office said it "opposes extremism in all its forms" and would work to "stop those who want to spread extremism, hatred and violent messages in our communities from coming to our country."

Lord Pearson, who invited Wilders to show "Fitna" at the House of Lords on Thursday, said he was "very surprised" at the news and was looking into what happened.

Wilders said the embassy letter informed him he was being refused entry because his views "threaten community harmony and therefore public security" in Britain.

He said the letter cited article 19 of the 2006 British Immigration Regulations.

According to a copy of the regulations on the Home Office Web site, the article allows a person to be banned from the United Kingdom "if his exclusion is justified on grounds of public policy, public security or public health ..."

Wilders has lived for years with round-the-clock security because of his fierce criticism of Islam. He has urged the government to ban the Quran in the same way it did Adolf Hitler's book "Mein Kampf" and warned of a "tsunami" of Islam swamping the Netherlands.

Last month, a court in Amsterdam ordered him prosecuted for hate speech, a rarely punished crime in the liberal Netherlands that carries a maximum one-year sentence.

Wilders has appealed to the Supreme Court to overturn the order.

The lawmaker, whose Freedom Party holds nine of Dutch parliament's 120 seats, said he was shocked by the travel ban.

"We are talking here about a European Union country, one of the oldest democracies in the Western world," he said.

Neville Chamberlain was unavailable for comment.

Via The International Herald Tribune