Dutch Politician To Show Prophet Cartoons On TV

Far-right politician Geert Wilders plans to broadcast cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed on Dutch television after Parliament refused to show them.

He vowed to show the controversial images during TV airtime reserved for political parties in the Netherlands.

The broadcast is likely to anger Muslims because Islamic tradition holds that any physical depiction of the Prophet is blasphemous.

The country's political parties get a small amount of airtime each year and broadcasting authorities have no say in what they show.

Mr Wilders, whose Freedom Party holds 12 of the 150 seats in parliament's lower house, said it would take place in the next few weeks, but no date has been set.

His announcement came after the Dutch government refused his request to show an exhibition of cartoons of the Prophet in parliament.

The images are from an anti-Islamic event in Garland, Texas, last month, where the Dutch politician gave a speech.

Shortly after he left the Mohammed cartoon contest, it was attacked by two men armed with pistols and assault rifles . Security guards shot dead the gunmen.

Mr Wilders said he wants to broadcast the Texas cartoons to support people "who use the pen and not the sword".

"If we say, 'it might be offensive, so let's not do it,' then we send a signal to the people who wanted to get into the event in Texas ... and all their followers that it works," he said.

"That we can be intimidated, that we get frightened."

Mr Wilders - who has compared the Koran to Hitler's Mein Kampf book and has called Islam a fascist religion - has been under 24-hour protection since 2004 because of death threats.

He was cleared in 2011 of giving hate speeches as judges said his anti-Islam rhetoric came in the context of a fierce national debate about immigration and multiculturalism.

Mr Wilders is again facing prosecution over a chant last year in which he asked his supporters whether they wanted more or fewer Moroccans in the Netherlands - and they shouted back "Fewer! Fewer! Fewer!"

The remark led to thousands of legal complaints being lodged across the Netherlands, and there was even criticism from within Mr Wilders' own party.