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The Dutch MP who wrote a controversial film on Islam that led to the murder of director Theo Van Gogh is planning a third instalment. Somalia-born Ayaan Hirsi Ali said that in the third Submission feature "God himself will answer their questions". The first film told the story of women who asked for Allah's help after being raped, beaten and forced into marriage. The sequel focused on homosexuality in Islam, but Ali said that using Allah in part three would be "the hardest part". "Who could play Allah? Also you need actors that are not afraid to take on the...

The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation has a new "most wanted" list. This one's not for criminals, but for art. After much analysis, the bureau has come up with its list of the top 10 art crimes, and it's asking the public for help in solving them. FBI investigators are on the hunt for Rembrandts, Renoirs, stolen treasures from Iraq, two Van Goghs, and Munch's "The Scream." "We see ties to organized crime," FBI Assistant Director Chris Swecker told reporters in Washington. "There have been reported ties to everything from the insurgency in Iraq to some theories that some of...

Amsterdam struggles to address the threat of Islamic terrorism, while maintaining its liberal values. AMSTERDAM – When Hisham Boumediene decided to move to the Netherlands 14 years ago, he had little doubt about his choice for an adopted permanent home. Within a year of his arrival, the Moroccan-born chef had learned his new country's language, found love, and was enjoying all things Dutch. But as the Netherlands marks the anniversary this week of filmmaker Theo van Gogh's murder by a young Islamist, Mr. Boumediene says the society he came to love will never be the same again. "I get a...

Three women facing death threats appeared in public under heavy security last night to denounce a provincial move that would allow Muslims here to settle family disputes in accordance with religious laws, outside the court system. The activists, including Dutch parliamentarian Ayaan Hirsi Ali, say the religious laws known as sharia discriminate against women. "Why, if you have equal rights in Canada, would you take them away from Muslim women?" Hirsi Ali asked. She was joined by Iran's Homa Arjomand and Irshad Manji in a University of Toronto auditorium for an event in support of the International Campaign Against Sharia...

When Dutch filmmaker Theo Van Gogh was stabbed to death last year, the assailant pinned a note to the dead body claiming Ayaan Hirsi Ali would be next. But she isn't cowering. Instead, the Dutch filmmaker is in Toronto, speaking out against the implementation of traditional Islamic law, Sharia, in Canada. "I'm here because the rights of women and the rights of Muslim women are threatened," she said. Supporters of Sharia say Muslims have the right to live as their religion dictates. They want Canada to permit Sharia arbitration in civil disputes. In a recent report, Marion Boyd, a former...

By Abigail R. Esman World Defense Review columnist Mohammed Bouyeri begged his government for death. Instead, they did something worse: They gave him life. Bouyeri, 27, is the Dutch-born Moroccan Muslim radical who slaughtered filmmaker and columnist Theo van Gogh on the streets of Amsterdam last November 2, shooting him multiple times before slashing his throat with a machete and stabbing a five-page letter into his gut. Afterwards, shocked bystanders watched in horror and amazement as Bouyeri calmly walked away, as one eyewitness described it, "as if he were just out walking his dog." That, of course, had been the...

Earlier this week, on Tuesday July 26, 2005, a Dutch court sentenced Mohammed Bouyeri, the killer of Dutch film producer Theo Van Gogh, to life in prison. Following Bouyeri's confession of his gruesome killing of van Gogh, shocking details about the lives of Bouyeri and his friends began to emerge. They afford a telling glimpse into the secret world of Dutch Islamists who used fundamentalism as a veil to mask their sexual perversions. Bouyeri’s parents were first-generation immigrants. He completed secondary school in Amsterdam, then attended college for five years, but quit before receiving a degree. Shortly after the death of his mother, he turned to Islamic...

Prosecutors to Charge Van Gogh Killer as Member of Radical Islamic NetworkBy Anthony Deutsch Associated Press Writer Published: Jul 28, 2005 ROTTERDAM, Netherlands (AP) - Dutch prosecutors said Wednesday they will charge the man jailed for life for murdering filmmaker Theo van Gogh as a member of an Islamic terror network believed to have plotted attacks against politicians. The plans to charge Mohammed Bouyeri as a member of the Hofstad Network were revealed at a custody hearing for 11 other alleged members. Bouyeri, 27, was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment on Tuesday for Van Gogh's murder, which judges ruled...

Following the jailing of a radical Islamist for the murder of controversial film-maker Theo van Gogh, the Netherlands faces the question of how best to move forward. The life sentence handed down to 27-year-old Mohammed Bouyeri came as little surprise after he confessed to the killing in court - and vowed to do the same again, given the chance. But a day later, debate continues over what can be done to heal the tensions his actions have stirred up between Muslim and non-Muslim in the Netherlands. The news that Bouyeri will now also be charged as a leader of an...

Bouyeri was arrested shortly after Van Gogh's killing A Dutch court has sentenced a 27-year-old radical Islamist to life in prison for the November murder of controversial film-maker Theo van Gogh. Mohammed Bouyeri, who has joint Dutch-Moroccan nationality, had made a courtroom confession and had vowed to do the same again if given the chance. The murder in Amsterdam stunned the Netherlands. The court ruled that it was a terrorist act. The judge said the murder had triggered "great fear and insecurity" in society. "The murder of Theo van Gogh provoked a wave of revulsion and disdain in the Netherlands....

Court Sentences Killer of Dutch Filmmaker By ANTHONY DEUTSCH,/ Associated Press Writer A Dutch court sentenced the killer of filmmaker Theo Van Gogh to life in prison Tuesday, the harshest sentence possible for a murder that heightened ethnic tensions and raised concerns about homegrown Islamic terrorism. Mohammed Bouyeri, 27, had mounted no defense at his two-day trial earlier this month for the Nov. 2 slaying of Van Gogh, whom he accused of insulting Islam, and told the court he would do it again if given the chance. Presiding judge Udo Willem Bentinck said life in prison was the only fitting...

After the terrorist attacks of September 11, President Bush declared: "These acts of violence against innocents violate the fundamental tenets of the Islamic faith." But the Muslim murderer of Dutch filmmaker Theo van Gogh knows better than our president, and recently explained in court: "I acted purely in the name of my religion." So did the September 11 highjackers and the terrorists that bombed Madrid and London. Consider the Koran, for example, which Muslims believe is the word of Allah revealed to Muhammad, his prophet. There is no shortage of passages in the Koran that, taken literally, demand just that...

AMSTERDAM, 15/7/05 - Both the Lower House and the Public Prosecutors' Office (OM) fear that Theo van Gogh's killer Mohammed B. will use his years in prison to spread radical Islamic messages to other inmates and into the outside world. They demand that Justice Minister Piet Hein Donner take steps to prevent this. During the inquiry into the murder of prominent columnist, filmmaker and Islam-critic Theo van Gogh, the OM intercepted two documents written by Mohammed B. in pre-trial custody. He had called one 'The constitution of a fundamentalist', the other was a poem praising Osama bin Laden. The OM...

The man accused of killing Dutch filmmaker Theo van Gogh confessed to a Dutch court that he acted out of his religious beliefs, saying he would do "exactly the same" if he were ever set free. "I take complete responsibility for my actions. I acted purely in the name of my religion," 27-year-old Dutch-Moroccan national Mohammed Bouyeri told the court in Amsterdam on the final day of his trial. Prosecutor Frits van Straelen demanded a life sentence for Bouyeri for killing Van Gogh on an Amsterdam street on November 2, 2004. He recalled the particular brutality of the murder in...

The self-confessed killer of Theo van Gogh faced the victim's mother in an Amsterdam court today and told her he felt no remorse for his crime. Turning his chair towards Anneke van Gogh as she watched from the public gallery, the Moroccan-born Mohammed Bouyeri said: "I don't feel your pain. I don't have any sympathy for you. I can't feel for you because I think you're a non-believer." The Islamic radical admitted killing Mr Van Gogh, a Dutch film maker, saying he was driven by his religious beliefs, and claimed he would do the same again. Mr Bouyeri, the son...

AMSTERDAM, Netherlands (AP) - The man on trial in the slaying of filmmaker Theo van Gogh admitted his guilt in court Tuesday, declaring he acted out of religious conviction and would do it again if given the chance. Mohammed Bouyeri also turned to Van Gogh's mother, Anneke, in court and told her: "I don't feel your pain." Bouyeri, 27, faces life imprisonment in the Nov. 2 killing of Van Gogh, who was found shot and stabbed. He has not mounted a defence. "I did it out of conviction," Bouyeri said. "If I ever get free, I would do it again."...

Monday, July 11, 2005 "I Swear to God. If they had the death pemalty, I would beg for it. Suckers." Trial of Mahammed B. for Murder of Theo van Gogh Starts Mohammed B., the sole suspect for the murder of film director Theo van Gogh on 2nd November last year, goes on trial in Amsterdam today. As he is using his right to silence, some of the evidence against him is in the form of tapped calls he made, to his brother, Hassan, amongst others. In a call made last January, Mohammed B. laughingly confessed to the murder. I knew...

AMSTERDAM, July 8 (Reuters) - Nearly half the citizens in the Netherlands expect the country to fall victim to an attack like Thursday's bombings in London, according to a new poll. The poll, conducted by TNS NIPO for RTL television, found 97 percent of the population thought more terror attacks were likely somewhere and half said the Netherlands would be the next target in Europe. Nearly 90 percent believed an attack could not be prevented. Anxiety in the Netherlands -- which last month ordered three radical imams to leave the country after its intelligence service said they represented a security...

There have been some great threads on art lately, and at the (great) risk of overdoing it….I want to continue with this little series on Art Appreciation (or, as some have termed it, Education). Many FReepers just love realism. (If you want to see some recent threads on this, do a search under vannrox as a poster, and you’ll see some lovely images by late 19th century realists.) But what I want to deal with is the beginning of abstraction. Even Monet and the other impressionists are somewhat abstract. Anything that moves away from a strict recreation of reality, to...

AMSTERDAM — Two Chechen men have been arrested in recent weeks in connection with inquiries into the murder of Dutch filmmaker Theo van Gogh. French police arrested 25-year-old Bislan I. at the request of Dutch justice officials earlier this month. His fingerprint was allegedly found on a document among the belongings of Mohammed B., the man who has confessed to Van Gogh's murder. Another Chechen man was arrested mid-April, the Public Prosecutor's Office (OM) in Amsterdam revealed on Thursday. Marat J., 22, was arrested in Schiedam. Originally from the Chechen capital Grozny, J.'s fingerprints were allegedly discovered on a cassette...