Latest Channel 4 News:
Row over Malaysian state's coins
'Four shot at abandoned mine shaft'
Rain fails to stop Moscow wildfires
Cancer blow for identical twins
Need for Afghan progress 'signs'

Koran film sparks outrage

Source ITN

Updated on 28 March 2008

Islamists have held angry demonstrations after a Dutch politician released a film that accused the Koran of inciting violence.

The movie, called Fitna after the Arabic word for strife, mixes images of the September 11 attacks and other atrocities with quotations from the Muslim holy book.

It urges Muslims to tear out "hate-filled" verses from the Koran and starts and finishes with a cartoon of the Prophet Mohammad with a bomb under his turban, originally published in Danish newspapers, accompanied by the sound of ticking.

The man responsible, MP Geert Wilders, who heads the anti-immigration Freedom Party, has been under armed guard after getting death threats.

Iran condemned the film along with Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim nation and a former Dutch colony.

A spokesman for the southeast Asian country's foreign ministry said: "We are of the view that the film has a racist flavour and is an insult to Islam, hidden under the cover of freedom of expression."

But Dutch Muslim leaders appealed for calm and have called on Muslims worldwide not to target Dutch interests.

In a statement on live television in both Dutch and English, Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende said he rejected Wilders' views and was pleased by the restrained reaction of Dutch Muslim organisations.

Demonstrators took to the streets from Afghanistan to Indonesia to burn Dutch and Danish flags after newspapers reprinted the caricatures of Mohammed following the arrest of three men on suspicion of trying to kill the cartoonist, Kurt Westergaard.

© Independent Television News Limited 2008. All rights reserved.

These news feeds are provided by an independent third party and Channel 4 is not responsible or liable to you for the same.

Send this article by email


Watch the Latest Channel 4 News

Watch Channel 4 News when you want

Latest World news

More News blogs

View RSS feed

Pakistan floods

A boy puts cream on in his face during the Pakistan floods (Reuters)

Powerful reports from Jonathan Miller inside Pakistan.

Fears over Taliban deal

image

Lindsey Hilsum reports on the cost of a Taliban deal.

Iran stoning reprieve

image

A campaign to save a woman from stoning wins her a reprieve.

Crisis as famine looms

image

The worst drought in memory grips Niger, Mali
and Chad.

Afghan civilian casualties

image

British compensation payments to Afghan victims "treble".

Amnesty award success

image

Channel 4 News wins Amnesty awards for Sri Lanka reports.

Tamil killings 'ordered'

image

Sri Lanka commander says killings were 'ordered from the top'.

Somalia aid probe

(Getty)

The UN finds corruption is diverting Somali food aid.

Twittering on

Start following Channel 4 News on Twitter today.

Click to launch.

Snowmail

Most watched

image

Find out which reports and videos are getting people clicking online.




Channel 4 © 2010. Channel 4 is not responsible for the content of external websites.