January 29, 2009 - 13:50 AMT
Pat Condell: Shame on the Netherlands
Famous British actor and video-blogger Pat Condell has spoken out in support of Dutch MP Geert Wilders, the author of anti-Islam "Fitna" film.

He denounced the court decision to prosecute Wilders as an unacceptable limitation of the freedom of speech that shames not only the Netherlands, but Europe as a whole.

Condell accused the Dutch government of appeasing of Islam, which he believes is leading to Europe's cultural suicide.

"Shame on the Netherlands," Condell said in his video address.

Last week a Dutch court has ordered prosecutors to put a right-wing politician on trial for making anti-Islamic statements.

"In a democratic system, hate speech is considered so serious that it is in the general interest to... draw a clear line," the court in Amsterdam said.

The three judges said that they had weighed Mr Wilders's "one-sided generalizations" against his right to free speech, and ruled that he had gone beyond the normal leeway granted to politicians.