Posted on 10/13/2009 9:21:35 AM PDT by knighthawk
Anti-Islam MP Geert Wilders should not have been refused entry to Britain to attend a screening of his film Fitna earlier this year, a British immigration tribunal ruled on Tuesday.
Wilders had been invited to the House of Lords, the upper house of the British parliament, for the screening in February, but was told he would be refused entry on public order grounds.
Wilders went ahead with the trip and was turned back by immigration officials at Heathrow airport. 'This is a very black day. They are bowing down to Islam by refusing entry to critics,' Wilders said at the time.
The 15 minute film Fitna is a compilation of tv footage which equates Islam with terrorism. The London screening was only attended by a handful of people.
Disappointed
'We are disappointed by the court's decision. The government opposes extremism in all its forms,' a British home office spokesman told the BBC on Tuesday.
'The decision to refuse Wilders admission was taken on the basis that his presence could have inflamed tensions between our communities and have led to inter-faith violence. We still maintain this view.'
Wilders described the ruling as 'fantastic'. 'This is a victory for freedom of expression,' he told the Telegraaf.
Foreign affairs minister Maxime Verhagen said he was pleased with the verdict and that he hoped Britain would now admit Wilders.
Court
The Dutch government had protested about the ban, saying Wilders was not a threat to public order.
Wilders still faces prosecution in the Netherlands for discrimination and inciting hatred. That trial is due to begin in January.
Wilders' political party, the PVV, is currently one of the biggest in the country in the latest opinion polls with some 28 of the 150 seats in parliament.
Ping
Great Britain will be Islamic in a decade.
Yes, they oppose the hysterical head-chopping, subway-bombing Muslims, and they oppose those who don't want their heads chopped off or their subways bombed.
Pretty even-handed, if you ask me.
What do you mean by ‘will be’?
“Great Britain will be Islamic in a decade”
They are definitely in a downward spiral. You may well be right.
Well, just over one year I spoke to Great Britain citizens (via phone) as I connected with them per job, and they didn’t see a big risk. They said the Islamists live in a certain section, and always cause problems over there. We read about the problems there, and assume it is the entire country...so I mentioned to these people. Well, they were hoping it wouldn’t spread beyond that section! It seems to me the Islamists have put a lot of pressure on the govt (Like ZERO is doing) to allow Muslims to do what they want, and no disagreements.
That should be interesting to watch.
Geert Wilder's own government took a stand against the British government, supporting him.
Did the U.S. government take a stand against the British government when Michael Savage was banned? No. I know that Savage wrote to Hillary Clinton, the Secretary of State, months ago, but received no reply.
No it won’t.
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