Islamophobe Geert Wilders To Be Prosecuted For Anti-Moroccan Hate Campaign

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Well-known international columnist, political analyst and senior journalist Ahmed Mohiuddin Siddiqui’s articles are published across Asia, Africa and Europe. He writes for The Moroccan Times, The Tunis Times, India Tomorrow, KohramNews, The Etemaad Urdu Daily and for newspapers published from Muscat, Sultanate of Oman. You can follow him on Twitter at: @journopolana[/symple_box]

The Dutch Islamophobe politician Geert Wilders of the Freedom Party is in the soup this time for his hate campaign against the Dutch citizens of Moroccan ancestry and Moroccan immigrants at large in the Netherlands. Geert Wilders has been charged with “discrimination and encouraging hatred” after he led chants against Moroccans at a political rally.

According to the prosecutors Geert Wilders is accused of insulting a specific group ‘‘based on race and inciting discrimination and hatred.’’ Early this year, the Islamophobe asked a crowd at a rally in The Hague whether they wanted more or fewer Moroccans in The Netherlands. Then, after that the crowd responded ‘‘ Fewer! Fewer! Fewer!’’ Wilders assured them: “We’ll take care of that.’’ Following the event, during a televised interview, Wilders resorted to use vulgar language and referred to Moroccans as ‘Scum’. After that the footage of the abusive rally was broadcast on the Dutch national television, a wave of outrage from angry “Moroccans” were triggered in the Netherlands as more than 6, 000 complaints were filed against the Islamophobe. The irony of the situation is that Geert Wilders is not bothered at all about critical issues being faced by The Netherlands. His foolish and uncalled-for comments has ignited public fury.

At that time, Geert Wilders, a Eurosceptic politician, made the aforementioned controversial remarks and defended them in another statement. ‘‘I said what millions of people think and believe. The public prosecutors should be going after Jihadis instead of me. The PVV is the largest party in the polls and the elite apparently doesn’t like it,” the Islamophobe said. The hateful statements added to the turmoil in Dutch politics. The crisis talks within the Netherlands’ governing coalition entered the third day today.

Mark Rutte, the Dutch Prime Minister did not attend European Council summit in Brussels as the coalition parties tried to hammer out an agreement over the healthcare reforms of government which are considered as controversial. These reforms are aimed at cutting costs by restricting patients’ freedom to choose doctors. These may result in too much power to the Dutch health insurers.

I have been following the political career of Geert Wilders closely. In 2007, he had made similar controversial comments against Islam but the charges were defeated. His anti-immigrant views are known to Europe. It seems Geert Wilders urgently needs to be whisked away to a mental asylum for his anti-Moroccan remarks. A long jail term is another alternative to end his hate campaign if different communities are to live peacefully in Europe and particularly in The Netherlands. When the world is moving towards another economic slow down after petrol prices came tumbling down, the politicians need to behave in a more mature manner. If hate mongers like Geert Wilders are not prosecuted and sentenced, it may create more problems in the days to come.