Muslim cleric calls for beheading of Dutch politician Geert Wilders
DUTCH anti-Islam MP Geert Wilders, the country's most heavily guarded politician, has denounced an Australian Muslim cleric's reported call for his beheading for denigrating Islam.
"This is really terrible news and a very serious threat, unfortunately," the firebrand politician told AFP by email in response to the threat reported in the popular Dutch daily De Telegraaf.
Wilders, who campaigns for an end to Muslim immigration and a ban on the building of new mosques and the Koran in a bid to end the "Islamisation" of the Netherlands, has been under 24-hour protection since 2004.
According to De Telegraaf, Sydney-born Muslim cleric Sheik Feiz Mohamed called on extremists in an internet chatroom to "chop off his head" and accused Wilders of "denigrating" Islam.
An interview with Wilders recorded in June was aired by SBS TV in Australia on Sunday. He called Islamic culture retarded and violent.
Satanic skirts
Mohamed, as the head the Global Islamic Youth Centre in the Sydney southwest suburb of Liverpool in 2005, gained notoriety for a speech at the Bankstown Town Hall in March of that year in which he told the audience a rape victim has "no-one to blame but herself".
Women teased men and appealed to their "carnal nature" by the way they dressed in "nothing but satanic skirts", the imam told the crowd.
In 2007, he was named by national security sources as one of at least 10 hardliners who were preaching fundamentalist messages in Australia, propagating a Wahabi ideology espoused by al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.
In the same year, Mohamed, who was believed to be living in the Middle East, came to the attention of Australia's attorneys-general when his lectures were included in a box set of DVDs which urged young Muslims to kill non-believers.
The Dutch intelligence service, AIVD, which is understood to have a copy of his latest speech, said Mohamed is considered on a par with US Muslim preacher Anwar al-Awlaki, who is seen as the brains behind a failed attack on a plane flying over Detroit.
Wilders told De Telegraaf, which published a recording of the speech on its website, that he is shocked by the death threat.
The newspaper claims to have a sound recording of the appeal by Muhammad, who it said had links with terrorists and was influential for Western Muslims.
Anti-terrorism
Wilders' Party for Freedom wants to restrict immigration from Islamic countries and considers Islam a violent ideology rather than a religion.
It is currently involved in protracted negotiations to support a minority centre-right government of free-market liberals and Christian Democrats.
Wilders said he would seek "clarification from the Dutch Minister of Interior/ Justice why the secret service and anti-terrorism unit NCTB have not informed me" of the reported threat, and "what the consequences will be for me".
"The information that has come to the fore will be included in the threat analysis for Mr Wilders," said NCTB spokeswoman Judith Sluiter, who added: "We had contact with Mr Wilders last night. We have permanent contact."
Dutch authorities would not confirm the threat or elaborate on possible steps to be taken.
Barred from entering Britain last year to stop him spreading "hatred", Wilders is known abroad for his 17-minute anti-Islam commentary, "Fitna", which was termed "offensively anti-Islamic" by United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.
His Party for Freedom came third in June 9 national elections, nearly tripling its number of parliamentary seats to 24.
Wilders is set to go on trial in the Netherlands in October on charges of inciting racial hatred against Muslims.
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