Amsterdam - The film Fitna - critical of the Koran and made by controversial MP Geert Wilders, one of the Netherlands' most outspoken Islam critics - Was put on the internet Thursday. Shortly after Wilders' Freedom Party announced on its website the long-expected 16-minute film had been put on the internet Thursday evening, Wilders defended the decision.
The film, he said, was directed against radical Islam and what he called the "Islamization of the Netherlands", and was not intended to be directed against Muslims.
Wilders also said he planned to travel around the Netherlands to talk about his ideas expressed in the film with the Dutch public - including Muslims.
"I am not against Muslims, I am against the ideology of the Islam," he said. "I think we in the West need to talk about how we will safeguard our freedom in the face of Muslim immigration and radical Islam."
The Dutch government, which was expected to release a prompt official statement about the film, had already distanced itself formally from it and expressed its fear that Dutch lives, but also Dutch business, might be at risk abroad.
Referring to the freedom of expression, the Dutch government also said it would not undertake steps to prohibit the movie unless it was proven Wilders violated Dutch law.
The film is a compilation of Koran verses and old video footage. The Koran verses are primarily sections interpreted as calling upon Muslims to attack and destroy its enemies.
It also shows the attacks on the New York Twin Towers on September 11, 2001 and the London underground on 7 July 2005, and video footage of Muslim terrorists demonstrating the execution of Western hostages.
The film suggests that violent passages from the Koran are directly used by Muslims as the legitimization to commit violence, and will ultimately endanger Western democratic and liberal values.
The film ends by calling upon its audience to do everything possible to counter what Wilders calls "the danger of the Islamization of the Netherlands."
Although the film contains many shocking and cruel pictures, Dutch Islam-experts say the film does not contain anti-Islamic provocations.
"The film does not contain pictures that are blasphemous or offensive for Muslims," says Maurits Berger, professor Modern Islam at Leiden University.
About the Koran verses used, Arabic world specialist Hans Jansen, affiliated with the University of Utrecht, said Wilders used "well- known passages, which most Muslims know."
Wilders, whose Freedom Party holds nine seats in the Dutch parliament and is a member of the opposition, had said before the film was launched that it demonstrated why the Koran is a "fascist" book that incites people to commit violence.
In November Wilders confirmed rumours that he was producing a film about the Koran. The film has captured the Dutch headlines ever since and caused heated debates.
The website of Wilders' Freedom Party said the film could be watched at www.liveleak.com.
