Dutch appeals court convicts anti-Islam lawmaker Wilders of insulting Moroccans

Lawyer Geert-Jan Knoops and Dutch PVV leader Geert Wilders sit in the court of appeal in The Hague, during the court’s ruling in the ‘fewer-Moroccan’ hate speech trial on September 4, 2020. (Netherlands OUT/AFP/ANP/Remko de Waal)

Chairman JM Reinking (L) and Dutch far-right Freedom Party (PVV or Partij voor de Vrijheid) Geert Wilders (C) sit in the court of appeal in The Hague, during the court’s ruling in the 2014 ‘fewer-Moroccan’ hate speech trial on September 4, 2020. (Netherlands OUT/AFP/ANP/Remko de Waal)

• Wilders, whose political career has been based largely on his strident anti-Islam rhetoric, was convicted in December 2016 of insulting and inciting discrimination against Moroccans in 2014
• The appeals court did not punish Wilders for his conviction, which he can appeal to the Dutch Supreme Court

THE HAGUE, Netherlands: A Dutch appeals court upheld Friday the conviction of anti-Islam lawmaker Geert Wilders for insulting Moroccans in comments he made at an election night gathering in 2014. However, the court overturned Wilders’ conviction for inciting discrimination.
The appeals court did not punish Wilders for his conviction, which he can appeal to the Dutch Supreme Court.
The comments for which Wilders was convicted “can contribute to polarization within Dutch society, while in our democratic, pluralistic society respect for others, especially minority groups, is of great importance,” said Presiding Judge Jan Maarten Reinking.
Wilders, whose political career has been based largely on his strident anti-Islam rhetoric, was convicted in December 2016 of insulting and inciting discrimination against Moroccans in 2014. He was not given a punishment.
Wilders made no immediate comment in court Friday.
The Party for Freedom leader has always insisted he is innocent and branded his prosecution a politically-motivated attempt to muzzle him and an attack on the freedom of speech. The appeals court rejected his claims of political interference in the case and said that free speech also has limits.
Friday’s conviction was based on comments Wilders made on the night of Dutch municipal elections in 2014 at a meeting in a Hague cafe. In what appeals judges said was a carefully prepared exchange, Wilders asked supporters whether they wanted more or fewer Moroccans in the Netherlands. That sparked a chant of “Fewer! Fewer! Fewer!” — to which he replied, “we’ll take care of it.”
The ruling Friday comes some six months before national parliamentary elections in the Netherlands. According to a poll of polls, Wilders’ party is the largest opposition party.