Muslim nations urge EU to block anti-Islam film

As promised by Geert Wilders, the anti-Islam movie ‘Fitna’ on Thursday went live on Web. Wilders, a Dutch right-wing lawmaker, posted his highly charged and much-anticipated movie on video sharing site www.liveleak.com.

The 16-minute-30-second film Fitna - an Arabic word that means "test of faith in times of trial" - is highly critical of Islam and its holy book the Quran. The movie sparked so much furor well ahead of its release.

The movie describes Islam as "the enemy of freedom". Dutch officials had warned Wilders that the movie could spark unrest among Muslim community, as happened two years ago after Danish newspapers published cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad.

"The film equates Islam with violence. We reject this," said Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende. "We ... regret that Mr. Wilders has released this film. We believe it serves no other purpose than to cause offense."

On the other hand, the Dutch lawmaker Geert Wilders, who is known for his confrontational views about Islam and Muslim immigrants, said, "I make a distinction between the ideology of Islam and the Koran and Muslims. My problem is with the ideology not with the people.... I have nothing against Muslims."

Dutch television refused to broadcast the film, and Wilders allegedly had problems finding a host willing to post his movie.

Although, the British Web site Liveleak.com agreed to post the movie, but it said that it does not agree with the movie's message and many of its staff members were offended by Fitna.

After the release of the movie, Wilders told media persons that he made the film because “Islam and the Quran are dangers to the preservation of freedom in the Netherlands in the long term, and I have to warn people of that."

Wilders' was originally due to release the film on his own Web site, www.fitnathemovie.com, but the release appeared to have been delayed after Network Solutions, the well known American Web site name registrar, took it down Monday.

Network Solutions on Saturday evening de-activated a Website on which the Dutch right-wing lawmaker Wilders was promoting his then yet-to-be-released film that criticizes the Quran, the sacred scripture of Islam.

The Dutch government at the time was worried that Wilders's plan to post the film on the site could result in serious consequences for the Netherlands' political and economic interests. Wilders had been previously urged by the Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende and other Dutch politicians to reconsider his pledge to release his film online but he rejected the calls.

The movie combines images of Sept. 11, the London and Madrid attacks and the murder of Dutch director Theo van Gogh with quotes from the Quran. It also features controversial images of the Prophet Mohammed.

Meanwhile, some Muslim nations on Friday condemned the new film, saying that it hurts the religious feeling of the Muslim community, and could trigger unrest among the Muslims.

The world's largest Muslim nation Indonesia, Pakistan and Iran are among those Muslim nations that accused the Dutch lawmaker of inciting violence by releasing the anti- Quran movie. These nations urged the European governments to block any further showing.