RUTHFULLY YOURS

(CNSNews.com) – Geert Wilders does not say what he does about Islam to be “funny,” but to warn Western civilization of the gravest danger it faces, the controversial Dutch politician’s lawyer told a court in Amsterdam on Monday.

Wilders, leader of the conservative Party for Freedom (PVV), stands accused of “inciting hatred and discrimination” against Muslims, allegations arising from his outspoken criticism of radical Islam.

The Dutch legal establishment has proceeded with the landmark trial even though public prosecutors have requested that it be abandoned, leading to the peculiar spectacle of the officials whose job is to secure a conviction instead urging the Amsterdam district court to acquit the accused man.

The lengthy trial also saw the judges replaced last fall on the instructions of a review panel, because of an appearance of bias against Wilders.

Prosecution and defense alike have argued that Wilders’ statements about Islam constituted protected speech, and that Wilders was not speaking out against Muslims per se, but against what he saw as a growing threat to Dutch society posed by Islamism.

Still, the court ruled last month that the trial must go on, and a verdict is now expected mid- to late-June.

Wilders’ lawyer, Bram Moszkowicz, rested the defense case on Monday, calling on the court to acquit his client in the name of free speech.

Moszkowicz said Wilders proclaimed an “uncomfortable message.”

“He goes far [in his criticism of Islam], but he never goes too far,” the French news agency AFP quoted Moszkowicz as telling the court.

“He doesn’t speak out because it’s funny. He speaks out over the gravest danger facing our Western civilization – an increased Islamization.”

Moszkowicz noted that terrorists who carried out suicide bombings in London and Madrid had been inspired by the Qur’an.

Wilders caused a storm in 2007 by saying that if Hitler’s Mein Kampf is banned in the Netherlands, then so too should the Qur’an, on the grounds that verses instruct Muslims “to oppress, persecute or kill Christians, Jews, dissidents and non-believers, to beat and rape women and to establish an Islamic state by force.”

The following year he produced a short documentary film that juxtaposed passages from the Qur’an with footage of terror attacks, as well as clips of Muslim clerics endorsing violence. The film, Fitna (Arabic for “strife”), was viewed millions of times online, and caused an uproar in the Islamic world.

About six percent of the population of the Netherlands is made up of Muslims, mostly of Moroccan and Turkish origin. Islamic radicalism has become an troubling issue for many in the traditionally liberal country, where a Muslim extremist in 2004 shot and stabbed to death a filmmaker critical of Islamism. Wilders has himself been under police protection since 2004.

Wilders’ stance has won him notoriety, but also strong support. His PVV party began as a one-person campaign seven years ago, won nine seats in the 150-seat Tweede Kamer legislature in 2006, and then last year saw its representation jump to 24 seats, making it the third biggest in the parliament.

Wilders has traveled and spoken widely about Islamism and the West, most recently addressing an event earlier this month in Madison, Tenn., organized by the Tennessee Freedom Coalition.

If convicted, he faces up to12 months in prison or a fine of about $11,000.