Out of the frying pan, into the fire for Geert Wilders

Jordan charges Dutch Politician with Blasphemy after the OIC announces itself "deeply annoyed" (wah!) with the Dutch decision to drop charges against Geert on Monday.

Dutch politician Geert Wilders was charged by a Jordanian prosecutor Tuesday with blasphemy and contempt of Muslims for making an anti-Koran film, and ordered to stand trial in Jordan, Reuters reported. The charges came one day after Dutch prosecutors decided they wouldn't take action against Wilders because he was protected by the right to free speech. An order was issued to bring Wilders to trial through the Dutch Embassy in Amman, Reuters reported.

More blather from the OIC on the subject:

"The decision ... encourages and supports the irresponsible defamatory style followed by some media outlets and instigates feelings of hatred, animosity and antipathy towards Muslims," the Saudi Arabia-based organization said in a statement, according to Reuters.

The charges carry a maximum sentence of three years in jail, Reuters reported.

Read about the group bringing the charges, a coalition of Jordanian media outlets, politicians and trade unionists known as The Messenger of Allah Unites Us AKA lefty moonbats of the Jordanian persuasion.

The Amman public prosecutor Hassan al-Abdullat on Tuesday issued five charges against Dutch lawmaker Geert Wilders who in March released an allegedly anti-Islam film on the Internet, judicial sources said.

Al-Abdullat charged Wilders with 'defamation of prophets, publishing pictures which insult feelings of Muslims, offending Islam and the Prophet Mohamed and provoking sectarian and racial sentiments,' the sources added.

A coalition of Jordanian media outlets, politicians and trade unionists calling itself 'The Messenger of Allah Unites Us' had filed a lawsuit against Wilders for screening a 16-minute film called Fitna on the Internet.

Last month, al-Abdullat charged 20 Danish chief editors and journalists with reprinting cartoons sacrilegious to the Prophet Mohamed and issued notifications to them to attend a trial in Amman in a lawsuit filed by the same group.

You just gotta love the Geertman, though! Wilders plans a SEQUEL TO FITNA and issues a snappy retort to "those lunatics in Amman":

Wilders yesterday also asked Foreign Minister Maxime Verhagen to summon the Jordanian ambassador in The Hague. A prosecutor in that country is preparing a case against Wilders for insulting Islam.

"I do not have to keep to the laws of banana republics like Jordan and Saudi Arabia," Wilders explained. The Dutch OM's decision not to prosecute him "should be presented in golden gift-wrapping to those lunatics in Amman."

The threat of a possible international arrest from Jordan worries Wilders. In the Netherlands as well, Muslim organisations still continue to feel that Wilders' criticism of Islam is an offence; they are going to ask judges to force the OM to prosecute after all.

It's not all fun and games for our man Geert, however. He has met with the Dutch foreign minister to discuss the situation and Dutch blogger, Klein Verzet, has this to report about the possibility of travel troubles in Geert's future.

International Arrest Warrant for Wilders.

It’s expected that the kingdom is also preparing an International Interpol arrest warrant (NL) against him. Thus from now on international travel will become a very dangerous affair for the Dutch opposition leader. The situation is especially dangerous for Wilders because the Dutch government cannot be trusted in protecting him against extradition. Because it’s the Dutch government her self who is constantly investigating how they can legally prosecute him. Jordan just seem to offer to them what they them selves are so unable to arrange legally in their own country. But rest assured, they foreign minister told the media they take the matter very seriously.

For more of KV's take on the situation, click here.
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