Dutch Politician Plans to Air Film Criticizing the Koran

A Dutch politician known for his views against Islam plans to air a film he produced that is critical of the Koran, which he likens to Adolf Hitler's hateful writings.

Parliamentarian Geert Wilders spoke to FOX News about the documentary, insisting the Muslim holy book is dangerous and should be banned.

"I believe the Koran is, indeed, 'Mein Kampf.' They are the same package," Wilders said. "I believe that our culture is far better than the retarded Islamic culture."

Wilders has around-the-clock guards protecting his life, and Dutch television is staying as far from the movie as possible. Wilders said he will release the film one way or the other, even if he has to post it on the Internet.

Dutch authorities are worried about the 10-minute movie being shown, and for good reason.

Two years ago, outspoken filmmaker Theo van Gogh was shot, stabbed and nearly decapitated in Amsterdam over his film "Submission," which portrayed abuse against women in the name of Islam. His killer was a Moroccan-born, Muslim Dutch citizen named Mohammed Bouyeri.

In 2005, satirical cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad printed in a Danish newspaper led to Danish embassies being set on fire, multimillion-dollar anti-Danish consumer boycotts in the Middle East and hundreds of deaths in riots across the Muslim world.

On Monday, a senior Iranian lawmaker warned the Netherlands not to allow the screening of Wilders' film, claiming it "reflects insulting views about the Holy Koran."

Alaeddin Boroujerdi, head of the Majlis National Security and Foreign Policy Commission, promised widespread protests and a review of Iran's relationship with the Netherlands if Wilders' work is shown.

"If Holland will allow the broadcast of this movie, the Iranian parliament will request to reconsider our relationship with it," Boroujerdi said, according to IRNA, the official Iranian news agency. "In Iran, insulting Islam is a very sensitive matter and if the movie is broadcasted it will arouse a wave of popular hate that will be directed towards any government that insults Islam.

Wilders calls his film "a call to shake off the creeping tyranny of Islamicization" and said it could air as early as this week on Dutch television.

"People who watch the movie will see that the Koran is very much alive today, leading to the destruction of everything we in the Western world stand for, which is respect and tolerance," Wilders, the 41-year-old leader of the right-wing Party for Freedom, said last month in a telephone interview with FOXNews.com.

"The tsunami of Islamicization is coming to Europe. We should come to be far stronger."

Like other European countries, the Netherlands is struggling to cope with an influx of Muslim immigrants, and the newcomers often are relegated to working at low-paying jobs and living in high-crime ghettos.

Though the Dutch boast of their culture of tolerance, tensions have been high, with some blaming rising unemployment and crime on newcomers from Muslim countries such as Turkey, Morocco and Somalia.

In the late 1990s, political leaders including Dutch anti-immigration politician Pim Fortuyn as well as Somalian-born writer Ayaan Hirsi Ali and van Gogh seemed to tap into a growing well of resentment against Muslims and criticism of Islam.

In 2002, tensions broke into outright murder when Fortuyn was shot by an animal rights activist who told the judge he was acting on behalf of the country's Muslims. Two years later, van Gogh was brutally murdered.

Van Gogh, with Hirsi Ali, recently had made "Submission," a 10-minute movie the two said depicted the abuse of women in Islamic cultures. After van Gogh's murder, the Dutch government placed public figures known for their anti-Muslim stances in safehouses.

Wilders was among them and has not been out of government protection since, a situation he said "I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy," and his views on Islam have only hardened.

Five months ago, he called for the Koran to be outlawed in the Netherlands.

"I believe our culture is much better than the retarded Islamic cultures," he told FOXNews.com. "Ninety-nine percent of the intolerance in the world comes back to the Islamic religion and the Koran."

The Dutch government has publicly warned him about the potential for violence at the completion of his film and has expressed concern over his personal safety and expressed concerned about peace within the country and interests abroad.

Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende said the Netherlands is ready to act quickly if the film causes unrest.

"The government will not tolerate such a situation. We are engaged in combating extremism and terrorism. We are working to right wrongs. We champion the cause of both freedom and respect. These are principles we will always defend. This country enjoys a long tradition of freedom of expression, religion and belief."

FOX News' Michael Park, Greg Palkot and various wire reports contributed to this story.