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Czech Far-Right Party Offers to Show Controversial Dutch Anti-Koran Film

Associated Press
Published | Updated

PRAGUE, Czech Republic – A Czech far-right party has offered to help a Dutch lawmaker distribute an anti-Koran film on the Internet if it is banned from being released in the Netherlands.

The offer was made after a U.S. company that provides Web hosting services suspended the site promoting Geert Wilders' 15-minute film, which has sparked demonstrations in the Netherlands even before it has been shown.

Hosting provider Network Solutions said it had suspended the promotional Web site until its sponsor could show that the plans for the site did not violate the service's standards.

"Over the last month, Network Solutions received a number of complaints," prompting it to seek reassurance about the content, it said in a statement. "We are still waiting to hear from our customer. In the interim, we have temporarily suspended the site."

The move has been criticized in tech circles, but the company denied it was "taking any action to limit freedom of speech or to preemptively censor content," saying that it was responding to complaints in this case. The statement did not elaborate on the nature of the complaints.

Dutch officials fear the movie could prompt violent protests in Muslim countries, similar to those two years ago after the publication of cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad in a Danish newspaper.

The Czech Republic's small National Party offered to release the film on the Internet using one of its servers, the party said in a message posted on its Web site.

The exact contents of the movie, due to be released by March 31, are unknown, but Wilders has said it will underscore his view that Islam's holy book is "fascist." He has said he will release his movie on the Internet after television stations refused to air it.

Thousands demonstrated in central Amsterdam against Wilders' film Saturday in a protest intended to show that he does not represent the whole country.

Wilders heads a reactionary party with nine seats in the 150-member Dutch parliament, elected on an anti-immigration platform.