Film-maker critic of Islam murdered

[Viking]

Film-maker critic of Islam murdered

 

Agencies

Tuesday November 2, 2004

 

The Guardian

 

A Dutch film-maker who received death threats after attacking imams as woman haters was stabbed and shot dead in Amsterdam today.

Theo Van Gogh, a distant relative of the 19th century Dutch painter Vincent Van Gogh, was attacked near a park close to the centre of the Dutch capital. Police arrested a man at the scene after an exchange of gunfire in which the suspect wounded a police officer. The suspect was wounded in the leg.

 

The arrested man, 26, had dual Dutch and Moroccan citizenship. A letter had been found at the crime scene, police and prosecutors said in a news conference live on national radio.

 

Mr Van Gogh, who was 47, courted controversy with newspaper articles, books and films dealing with Islam after the September 11 attacks on the US. His most recent film, Submission, portrayed a Muslim woman forced into an arranged marriage who is abused by her husband and raped by her uncle. After it was shown on Dutch television earlier this year, Mr Van Gogh received death threats.

 

Mr Van Gogh made the film with the Dutch politician Ayaan Hirsi Ali, a Somali refugee given Dutch citizenship after fleeing an arranged marriage 12 years ago. Ms Hirsi Ali, who calls herself an ex-Muslim, has been under police protection since receiving death threats because of the film.

 

Several Muslim organisations in the Netherlands - home to nearly 1m Muslims or 5.5% of the population - and mainstream Dutch newspapers attacked Submission. "He did receive death threats but he never took them quite seriously," a colleague at Mr Van Gogh's film production company said. "He was a controversial figure and a champion of free speech," his colleague said.

 

Security was stepped up for politicians in Holland after the killing of Pim Fortuyn, the anti-immigration populist, ahead of the May 2002 election in which his party captured second place. Mr Van Gogh had been making a film about the killing of Mr Fortuyn. In several of his films and a book, Allah Knows Better, Mr Van Gogh attacks Islamic militancy and accuses imams - Muslim prayer leaders - of hating women.

 

Immigration, integration and Islam are sensitive issues in the Netherlands where outspoken parliamentarians such as Geert Wilders, an opponent of Turkish EU membership, have received death threats because of their views.

 

The killing, which was widely condemned by Muslim groups, could raise communal tension. According to a recent survey, many Dutch people are afraid of the rising number of Muslims in their country and feel threatened by Islamist militants. The Netherlands gave political backing to the US-led invasion of Iraq and has around 1,300 troops there.

 

"It is really terrible. Of course we don't know yet the reasons, so I cannot give a formal reaction," the Dutch European affairs minister, Atzo Nicolai, said. "It reminds everybody of what happened to Pim Fortuyn."

 

Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2004

[raula]

^^ah! so tha's where that devil :mad: named AYAN gets her ideas from. Iam not even suprised if she refers herself as EX-muslim(subxannallah)!. As for the murder, No comment but I would say many muslims are dying and yet their names are not published nor their deeds rewarded-May Allah reward them paradise(amin). Well, every human being will face their fate one day-and so he is not different :mad: I say rot in HELL.

[- Femme -]

The INfamous Ayaan Hirsi

 

 

ok, ok...this is how she looks :mad: Well who said life is gonna be easy for the muslims? Its all a test

 

[Wiilo]

Looooooooooool@Femme Fatale...

 

Go figure

[Qac Qaac]

ar dhaga xeeya and dila balaayada iyada iyo wixii la mid ah... loooool. guys this kind of ppl are good for islam.. they would make more ppl muslim by their hate..

 

Raula waad hadashay walaashiis, well said.. I agree with u.

[Senora]

" a Somali refugee given Dutch citizenship after fleeing an arranged marriage 12 years ago. Ms Hirsi Ali, who calls herself an ex-Muslim, has been under police protection since receiving death threats because of the film."

 

This reminds me of that story that was written about that "muslim" woman who converted to Christianity because of her arranged marriage with her cousin..... :rolleyes: :rolleyes: .....

 

They just dont understand the religion, and like Somealien pointed out, they're given a test and they failed.....she is so pretty( I just had to add that in)