The screening of an anti-Islam film by a controversial far-right Dutch lawmaker inside Capitol Hill on Friday, February 27, is infuriating American Muslims and raising eyebrows.
"I am a strong an advocate of First Amendment free speech. However, this is not about free speech, but rather an issue of propriety, timing and venue," Representative Keith Ellison said in a statement mailed to IslamOnline.net.
Conservative Republican Senator John Kyl has invited Geert Wilders, leader of the right-wing Party for Freedom, to screen his controversial film in a cozy chamber of the Capitol Hill known as the L.B.J. Room.
"Senator Kyl has every right to host anyone he chooses, however it becomes a question of propriety to use the United States Capitol as a venue for the condemnation of an entire religion," insisted Ellison.
The documentary, entitled "Fitna" – an Arabic word for sedition or strife – accuses Qur'an of inciting violence.
It also juxtaposes verses from the Muslim holy book with reports of the 9/11 attacks, as well as gruesome images of the 2004 Madrid bombings and the 7/7
London bombings.
The film release has drawn condemnation from Muslims worldwide and anti-discrimination groups.
The Dutch government has distanced itself from the documentary and its content.
Wilders was recently denied entry by the British government because of his extremist views.
He was detained by immigration officials at Heathrow Airport on Thursday, February 12, and forced to board the next flight back to the Netherlands.
Wrong Signals
Radwan Masmoudi, from the Center for the Study of Islam and Democracy, also criticized the screening of the controversial film in the Capitol Hill.
"I know he doesn't have a beard and he looks nice with his blond hair, but his views and his opinions are extremely mirror image, exactly mirror images of what al Qaeda has been trying to teach," he told CNN.
"He is the al Qaeda of the Netherlands."
Wilders is notorious for his fierce criticism of Islam.
He had called for banning the Muslim holy book described it as "fascist" and comparing it to Adolf Hitler's Mein Kampf.
In January, a Dutch court ordered that Wilders be prosecuted for inciting hatred and discrimination against Muslims.
Ellison, America's first Muslim Congressman, said screening Fitna in the Capitol Hill sends a wrong message to Muslims.
"At a time when President Obama has said to the Muslim world, ‘We are ready to initiate a new partnership based on mutual respect and mutual interest,’ the showing of a film that denigrates the faith of 1.4 billion of the world’s citizens does not foster mutual respect or mutual interest."
The Obama administration has promised to turn a new leaf in America's relations with the Muslim world after eight rocky years under George W. Bush.
In his inauguration speech, Obama vowed to seek a "new way forward" with the Muslim world.
His Secretary of State Hillary Clinton visited Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim country, in her first foreign trip hoping to restore US image.
"At a time when the US should be providing renewed leadership for peace and more understanding between the West and the Muslim world, one has to question the wisdom and judgment of promoting a film that erroneously condemns an entire religion—especially in the US Capitol," Ellison insisted.
How can you tell if something is slander or defamation.
Slander and defamation is to say something in public about a person, company, etc that leads to loss of revenue or impacts their ability to function in society. There have been other court cases involving other aspects of slander, but many aren't successful.
"Imagination was given to man to compensate him for what he is not, and a sense of humor was provided to console him for what he is."
Congratulations, and welcome to America, a place where you don't get punished for saying things that offend people.
Unless you lie about them and damage their reputation.
In which case, welcome to defamation law!
But, no doubt, people will continue to labour under the delusion that freedom of speech is absolute with no limits. Under European Human Rights Law, it's not even top of the pecking order - the only absolute right is freedom from slavery or degrading treatment.
That's not a value judgment of freedom of speech, by the way.
Slander and defamation is to say something in public about a person, company, etc that leads to loss of revenue or impacts their ability to function in society. There have been other court cases involving other aspects of slander, but many aren't successful.
So if a person in question is dead they can't be slandered?
A Dutch MP who was refused entry to Britain has launched an appeal against the Home Office's decision to ban him.
Freedom Party MP Geert Wilders has asked the Asylum and Immigration Tribunal to overturn the ruling.
He had been invited to show his film Fitna - which refers to the Koran as a "fascist book" - in the House of Lords when he was refused entry last month.
Home Secretary Jacqui Smith had judged his presence in the UK to be a threat to public security.
After he was sent back to the Netherlands from Heathrow last month, the Home Office said there was a blanket ban on Mr Wilders' entry to the UK under EU laws enabling member states to exclude someone whose presence could threaten public security.
Holland's foreign minister, Maxime Verhagen, has described the refusal as "highly regrettable".
A spokesman for the Tribunals Service confirmed the Asylum and Immigration Tribunal had received an appeal from Mr Wilders.
His film caused outrage across the Muslim world when it was posted on the internet last year.
Screening go-ahead
Fitna's opening scenes show a copy of the Koran followed by footage of the 9/11 attacks in the US and the bombings in Madrid in 2004 and London in 2005.
Mr Wilders had been invited to the House of Lords for a screening by the UK Independence Party's Lord Pearson.
It went ahead as planned, despite Mr Wilders' non-attendance.
Earlier this year, a Dutch court ordered prosecutors to put the MP on trial for inciting hatred and discrimination by making anti-Islamic statements.
A date for the appeal hearing is not likely to be set for four months.
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