Death threats against Wilders should be condemned

Commenting on the response to Dutch politician Geert Wilders' anti-Muslim film 'Fitna', columnist Timothy Garton Ash deplores both threats and condemnations. "That Wilders should not be murdered for making a film may seem so obvious that it hardly needs saying. But it does need saying, again and again… . For one of the most deeply corrosive realities of our time is that not just one but many people across the world are living under death threats... . Too many Dutch and international leaders have leapt to deplore Wilders' film without first excoriating those who threaten him with death. Particularly egregious is a statement by the UN secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, which, in explicitly condemning the film (but not the death threats), actually says 'the right of free expression is not at stake here'. That's a truly idiotic claim. Mr Ban has no right to make it on our behalf."

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