BRDO PRI KRANJU, Slovenia (AFP)
EU justice ministers have expressed concern about a far-right Dutch lawmaker's plan to make a potentially inflammatory film about the Muslims holy book, according to ministers and EU officials.
They said that Dutch justice officials had raised the issue at informal talks in Slovenia, and had called for EU support, amid concern that the short film could reignite tensions with Muslims after the Danish cartoons affair.
Far-right deputy Geert Wilders has been in the spotlight since he announced in the Netherlands in November that he plans to make a short film to show that Islam's holy book is "a fascist book" that "incites people to murder".
"It would, of course, have important repercussions for other countries of the European Union as well," Luxembourg Justice Minister Luc Frieden told AFP, on the sidelines of the talks.
"It is our moral duty to call upon everybody, to make people aware, so that they do not abuse their fundamental rights" of freedom of expression, he said.
"We must also protect those who may be hurt or harmed by irresponsible statements."
Dutch observers fear that Wilders will burn or tear up a copy of the Quran in his planned film.
"The Dutch minister expressed a certain preoccupation about that and asked for the support of his colleagues," an EU official told AFP.
It remains unclear if and when the movie will be shown. Wilders told Saturday's edition of Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf that it would be several weeks yet, after earlier giving a date of the end of January.
"The EU has to be attentive," the EU official said. "We are trying to avoid the situation we had with the cartoons."
A series of 12 cartoons of Islam’s Prophet Muhammad published in Denmark's biggest daily newspaper two years ago led to deadly riots in several Muslim countries.
The EU official said that the bloc's Counter Terrorism Coordinator Gilles de Kerchove noted during the discussions that "we have to think about how to deal with that."
German Justice Minister Brigitte Zypries said the EU ministers "agreed we would remain in contact" with their Dutch counterpart Ernst Hirsch Ballin over the issue.
De Telegraaf said it had viewed some rushes from the film.
"The opening shot shows to the left the cover of the Quran, and to the right the words 'Warning: this book contains shocking pictures'," it said.
Numerous Islamic associations have already urged Muslims in the country to stay calm and not allow themselves to be provoked.
Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende has said the Netherlands is ready to act quickly if the film causes unrest, and stressed that "provocations" have no place in the Dutch tradition of tolerance. |
