APRIL 25 is the date set by a Jordanian court for the trial of Danish cartoonist Kurt Westergaard, who recently survived an assassination attempt. He stands accused of “the crime of blasphemy” over a controversial caricature of the “prophet” Mohammed.
Kurt Westergaard
According to this report, Zakarya Sheikh, spokesman for a group of local media outlets that sued Westergaard in 2008 for depicting Mohammed with a bomb in his turban, said the artist and others have been summoned by a magistrates’ court in Amman to stand trial on the last Monday of the month.
Sheikh said:
These legal measures seek to prevent attempts to insult Islam and incite racial hatred against Muslims worldwide, particularly in Europe.
A Jordanian prosecutor summoned Westergaard for questioning in 2008 after 30 independent newspapers, websites and radio stations in Jordan sued him over his cartoon, which was republished in at least 17 Danish dailies, sparking violent protests in a number of Muslim countries, including Jordan.
Westergaard has been quoted in local news reports as saying that he:
Would like to go to Amman to stand trial. However, what I fear is that I am convicted in advance. I wanted to depict the terrorists as if they were taking the Prophet Mohammed as a hostage. I have no problem with Islam but with the terrorists.
He insists that he respects Islam but “will not apologise.”
Jordanian members of parliament have demanded that the government sever ties with Denmark, and Amman has condemned the caricature, warning that it could spark further extremism and harm relations between Denmark and Muslim countries.
Meanwhile, in Holland, the trial of Dutch politician Geert Wilders has resumed. Wilders is accused of inciting hatred towards Muslims.
The Freethinker was founded in 1881 by GW Foote, an outspoken critic of religion. After the publication of 
April 16th, 2011 at 11:42 am
The people who do most to “incite racial hatred against Muslims worldwide” are Islamic extremists.
April 16th, 2011 at 12:16 pm
If I remember correctly, Geert Wilders was charged in Jordan as well.
Meanwhile, his trial in the Netherlands is like a very wet fire-cracker; the second attempt doesn’t produce a bang, just like the first one. The witnesses are contradicting themselves and each other.
Last night, one of the witnesses was on TV, and Geert’s lawyer, watching the program, called in after a while to set the record straight, as he saw it, and repeated his claim that the witness is lying. It’s all on TV, and someone should translate this for foreign viewers. And again, the court has been disqualified again by the same lawyer.
I’m no fan of Geert, but I do like his trials. It gives a great insight in the workings of Lady Justice’s minions, who seem to be bending over backwards in this case to get their man.
April 16th, 2011 at 12:42 pm
So the rugbutters wish to give Westergaard a ‘fair’ trial for the reasons that Sheikh stated – ‘These legal measures seek to prevent attempts to insult Islam and incite racial hatred against Muslims worldwide, particularly in Europe.’ Making it sound almost reasonable.
And there was me thinking the reason people hate the muslim faith is 9/11, Madrid bombings, London bombings, female mutilation, honour killings, suppression of expression, fatwa on Salman Rushdie, attacks on NGO’s in India, beheading of aid workers, the Paris Metro bomb, murdering Theo van Gogh, making their women look like mobile post boxes, Andy Choudary and generally being a pain in the arse.
As usual I’ve kept it to the last 20 years and just scratched the surface.
April 16th, 2011 at 1:03 pm
Mr Westergaard would never reach a Jordanian court alive – a baying mob would probably stone him to death – let alone have a fair trial.
Inciting hatred? The muzzies do a pretty good job of it themselves.
April 16th, 2011 at 1:40 pm
I have been monitoring what is going on in The Netherlands and it’s all a bit worrying. It appears that the judge who was disqualified because he tried to influence a witness in the Wilders trial is hell bent on getting revenge. It would seem that one of the reasons for the delays has been because the judiciary are waiting for the new draconian laws coming from Europe with regard to the insulting of religion to become effective which would automatically make Wilders guilty. Sharia Law appears to be being introduced through the back door through the politically motivated law makers of Europe and the rest of us have to accept what they say. Thank you Blair/Brown/Cameron for protecting this country’s legal system against bloody foreigners.
April 16th, 2011 at 1:42 pm
“incite racial hatred against Muslims”
It’s a religion, not a race, fuckwits.
April 16th, 2011 at 2:30 pm
Newspaniard,
This is an older link from about 6 months ago and captures perfectly the problems Wilders has undergone in the Netherlands.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bWw7H4m389o
April 16th, 2011 at 3:18 pm
At this moment, the delays in the Wilders trial are mainly caused by his lawyer, it seems, and I’m not blaming him for that. It seems to be a political trial between politically motivated – incompetent – judges and Geert Wilders cs., as the Public Prosecutor was ordered to take up this case.
This may become the trial of the century, lasting until 2099; we’re only in the preliminary stage now. As for draconian laws, there’ll be hell to pay if those are introduced.
April 16th, 2011 at 3:35 pm
@tony e. Thanks for that, Pat Condell is also a hero of mine.
April 16th, 2011 at 3:37 pm
They do have a sense of humour. Come over here to Amman and you will have a “fair trial.” Frothing at the mouth muslims, crowds baying for his blood and they offer a “fair trial.”
April 16th, 2011 at 3:58 pm
Broga:
To paraphrase many a B-movie western, “Tha’s right, we’ll give ‘im a fair trial, all nice an’ proper. Then we’ll string ‘im up.”
*Cut to scene of a kangaroo court in a saloon…*
April 16th, 2011 at 5:42 pm
When will these fuckwits understand the difference between religion and race? Even if someone does incite hatred towards muslims it cannot be racist as islam isn’t a race.
As for a fair trial, dream on.
And one further point, why does Westergaard “respect” islam? I don’t.
April 16th, 2011 at 6:34 pm
Have these bellends got no sense of embarasment at all?
Furthermore, do they not appreciate that just because a Dane does something in Denmark doesn’t make it the government’s responsibility or mean they caused it? Even if they hated Westergaard, blaming his actions on the Danish government makes no sense at all unless you have no idea whatsoever of the concept of free speech.
April 16th, 2011 at 6:46 pm
…Or unless you’re a scheming bastard of a top-dog in an autocratic state, and you’re looking for someone to focus the uneducated, indoctrinated underdogs’ anger on, so they never stop to think who they should be angry at.
“Religion is regarded by the common people as true, by the wise as false, and by the rulers as useful.”
—Seneca
April 16th, 2011 at 9:57 pm
All this over a cartoon. It baffles me that people hold such fickle things in such high concern. Where religion is concerned, morality is obsolete.
April 17th, 2011 at 11:32 am
@Daz. You’ve got it. “Let’s get this trial over and then we can hang him all nice and legal.”
April 17th, 2011 at 10:26 pm
tony e. said:
“As usual I’ve kept it to the last 20 years and just scratched the surface.”
An extremely compelling indictment of Islam. I’m on board. What strikes me shivering is that Muslim countries are wielding a threat of damaged international relations unless sharia is enforced in western civilizations. That seems to me to call for rock hard defiance. A message to keep their caveman issues inside their backward uneducated countries.
We here are all guilty of blasphemy and deserving to die under their code. The more they kill the blasphemers, the more their true nature is revealed.
NeoWolfe
April 18th, 2011 at 7:22 am
Islamaphobia is alive and well and living in the UN!
I just hope their fear of islam does not cause them to demand that Hr. Westergaard be extradited ‘for the safety of our brave soldiers in Afganistan’.
For everyone living in Europe:
The vote participation in Europe is miserably low. Labour is getting its leeches & other parasites to the polls, the freedom parties are not doing so well. We MUST get a proper representation to retain our freedom.
Western civilisation could be lost by people wanting to sleep in on Sunday!