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Netherlands Justice Minister Ernst Hirsch http://www.wvwnews.net/story.php?id=3046 Gregorius Nekschot. He is facing charges of discrimination.
The arrest took place last Tuesday. The well-known stand-up comedian Hans Teeuwen, a friend of Nekschot, said on TV programme Pauw en Witteman that around 10 police dragged the cartoonist out of his home in Amsterdam in a brutal manner. His computer and telephone were seized, according to a furious Teeuwen.
The Public Prosecutor’s Office (OM) in Amsterdam confirmed that Nekschot (‘Neck Shot’) was arrested for the publication of cartoons that are discriminatory against Muslims and people of darker skin. The cartoonist was held for about a day and a half and interrogated twice. The OM still has to decide whether he will actually be prosecuted.
The arrest is particularly remarkable because it follows a complaint dating from 2005. Three years later, there was suddenly reason to take Nekschot by surprise in his home, said Teeuwen with incomprehension.Hirsch Ballin said Friday the arrest was only now carried out because Nekschot’s identity was not known to the OM before. According to Geenstijl.nl website, this is nonsense because internet providers must provide the details of operators of websites they host if the OM asks for this as part of a criminal investigation.
The OM did not bother to make such a request before, but Hirsch Ballin apparently now wants headlines such as ‘Cartoonist Arrested in The Netherlands’ to be send into the world to improve tense relations with Arab countries, Geenstijl suggested.
Centre-left D66 MP Boris van der Ham has requested Justice Minister Ernst Hirsch Ballin for clarification. The arrest raises “many questions about freedom of speech,” according to Van der Ham.
Socialist Party (SP) MP Jan de Wit also finds it very strange that the cartoonist was “arrested in his bed for a cartoon from 2005.” Freedom of expression “means that people must be able to draw and say whatever they want.” The conservatives (VVD) were also very critical.
The government parties did not want to use hard words. Labour (PvdA) MP Ton Heerts did say that “prosecuting a cartoonist is going pretty far.” But the Christian democrats (CDA) and ChristenUnie said the OM probably has good reasons for its way of operating.
Cartoonists, comics and columnists have more freedom of expression than other citizens, according to jurisprudence. This is due to the form – artistic or satirical – they choose for their argument.
Party for Freedom (PVV) leader Geert Wilders is accusing the OM in Amsterdam, which gave the police the order for the arrest, of “dictatorial tendencies.” Wilders said Friday he cannot remember a cartoonist ever being arrested anywhere in the West. He wants to call Hirsch Ballin to account Tuesday during the weekly question hour in the Lower House.
The arrest followed an investigation of the work of Nekschot, after a complaint was made against him in 2005 by Abdul Jabbar van de Ven. This Dutch convert to Islam calls himself an Imam. After the murder of filmmaker Theo van Gogh, he said on TV he would thank Allah if he could arrange for Geert Wilders to die, “for example of cancer”.
Jabbar van de Ven made the complaint to the National Discrimination Expertise Centre (LECD). This complaint was passed on to the OM. According to Geenstijl.nl, Paul Velleman, the prosecutor who gave the order for the cartoonist’s arrest, is also the head of the LECD.
Gregorius Nekschot publishes mainly on the Internet, but also produced a book titled ‘Nekschot: Sick jokes.’ Theo van Gogh, assassinated by a Muslim terrorist in 2004, gave space on his website to the work of Nekschot.
According to Teeuwen, the cartoonist was intimidated by one of the officers during his arrest, who apparently said that his real surname would be made public. “A pretty intimidating remark.” Precisely because of the threat of radical Muslims, Nekschot is very cautious about who he gives his real name to, said Teeuwen.
Prosecutor Paul Velleman is also leading the OM team that is investigating whether Wilders should be prosecuted for discrimination, according to Geenstijl.nl. In 2005, Velleman decided that the radical E Tawheed mosque in Amsterdam could not be prosecuted for selling books in which calls were made for throwing homosexuals from apartment buildings head-first.