[Excerpt: "The
Sydney-born Muhammad has gained notoriety for,
among other things, calling on young
children to be radicalized and
blaming rape victims for their own
attacks.
The paper posted an
English-language audio clip in which
he refers to Wilders as "this Satan,
this devil, this
politician in Holland" and explains that anyone who
talks about Islam like Wilders does
should be executed by beheading."]
Yahoo
News Via Reuters
September 3, 2010
by Ben Berkowitz
AMSTERDAM (Reuters) – A well-known Australian
Muslim cleric has called for the beheading of
Dutch anti-Islamic politician Geert Wilders, a
newspaper said on Friday.
Wilders'
Freedom Party scored the biggest gains in June 9
polls and is currently negotiating to form a new
minority government with the Liberals and Christian Democrats. Polls show Wilders would win a new
election if one were called now.
Wilders
demanded to know why he had learnt about the
threat from the newspaper and not from Dutch
authorities who are guarding him after a film
and remarks he made angered Muslims around the
world.
De
Telegraaf, the Netherlands' largest newspaper,
led its front page on Friday with a story on the
speech by Feiz Muhammad.
The
Sydney-born Muhammad has gained notoriety for, among other
things, calling on young children to be
radicalized and blaming rape victims for their
own attacks.
The
paper posted an English-language audio clip in
which he refers to Wilders as "this Satan, this devil, this politician in
Holland" and explains that anyone who talks
about Islam like Wilders does should be executed
by beheading.
De
Telegraaf did not say when the speech was given
but said it and the Dutch secret service both
had copies. According to his website, Muhammad
is based in Malaysia.
Wilders
told Reuters it was "really terrible news" and
that he was taking it seriously.
"I
will ask for clarification from the Dutch
minister of interior/justice why the secret
service and anti-terrorism unit NCTb have not
informed me before and what the consequences
will be for me," he said in an email.
A
spokesman for the Dutch secret service referred
inquiries on the threat to the NCTb. A
spokeswoman for the NCTb was not available to
comment.
Wilders
is currently on trial in the Netherlands for
inciting hatred and discrimination against
Muslims.
The
Freedom Party leader made a film in 2008 which
accused the Koran of inciting violence and mixed
images of terrorist attacks with quotations from
the Islamic holy book.
Wilders
was also charged because of outspoken remarks in
the media, such as an opinion piece in a Dutch
daily in which he compared Islam to fascism and
the Koran to Adolf Hitler's book "Mein Kampf."
Of
late he has been in the news for plans to speak
out against a planned mosque in New York City on
September 11, the ninth anniversary of the
attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people.
But
his views have also made him extremely popular
with a segment of the country uneasy about the
Netherlands' commitment to multiculturalism.
(Reporting
by Ben Berkowitz; Editing by Jon Hemming)
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