PrintJanuary 22, 2008
Iran Threatens Dutch Ties if Film is Shown
Ever watchful guardians of the Islamic faith, a key Iranian government official is warning the Dutch not to show a film about Islam and the Koran, threatening to "reconsider their relationship" with the Netherlands if the planned broadcast occurs:
Alaeddin Boroujerdi, head of the Majlis National Security and Foreign Policy Commission, promised widespread protests and a review of Iran's relationship with the Netherlands if Dutch lawmaker Geert Wilders' work is shown.Will Dutch TV stand up to the nutcases in Iran and show the film anyway. The track record in most European countries when faced with this kind of threat is not good. And in the case of the Dutch, there is reason to be fearful. The murders of Dutch politician Pim Fortuyn who was shot in 2002 for his views on Islam while in 2004, filmmaker Theo van Gogh was brutally killed after making an anti-Islamic film show that the extremists mean business.
"If Holland will allow the broadcast of this movie, the Iranian parliament will request to reconsider our relationship with it," Boroujerdi said, according to IRNA, the official Iranian news agency. "In Iran, insulting Islam is a very sensitive matter and if the movie is broadcasted it will arouse a wave of popular hate that will be directed towards any government that insults Islam.
Wilders calls his 10-minute film "a call to shake off the creeping tyranny of Islamicization, " and said it could air as early as this week on Dutch television.
Wilder himself is in hiding. But he is continuing van Gogh's work while agitating against immigration from Islamic countries. No doubt the Iranian threat won't deter him. But it may give the Dutch government and broadcasters pause before going ahead and showing the film, scheduled to be broadcast next week.
