A Dutch political cartoonist was arrested this week on suspicion of insulting people because of their race or religion through his work, authorities said Friday.

The cartoonist, who works under the pseudonym Gregorius Nekschot, was arrested Tuesday on suspicion of violating hate speech laws and held overnight before being released, a spokeswoman for his publisher Uitgeverij Xtra said.

“He was arrested with a great show of force, by around 10 policemen,“ the spokeswoman said.

She asked that her name not be used, and declined to give Nekschot’s real name, because the cartoonist and publisher have both received death threats.

Nekschot is known primarily for cartoons mocking Muslims and leftists, though the spokeswoman said he is a satirist who targets “any strong ideology.“

Amsterdam public prosecutor spokeswoman Sanne van Meteren said Nekschot remains a suspect in a criminal investigation.

“We suspect him of insulting people on the basis of their race or belief, and possibly also of inciting hate,“ she said.

Each is a crime punishable by up to a year in prison under Dutch hate speech laws — or two years for multiple offenses.

Nekschot publishes primarily on several Web sites, including his own, but has also been featured on the Web site of Theo van Gogh, the filmmaker who was murdered by a Muslim radical in November 2004.

The cartoonist also works for HP/De Tijd, a major Dutch language weekly news magazine, and he has published two books.

One recent cartoon on his web site caricatured a Christian fundamentalist and Muslim fundamentalist as zombies who met at an anti-gay rally and now wished to marry.

Van Meteren said prosecutors were investigating a complaint that dated from 2005. They are now focusing on eight or nine published cartoons, she said, but prosecutors are not disclosing which ones.

Nekschot did not answer police questions during his arrest, she said, appealing to his right to remain silent to avoid self-incrimination.

The spokeswoman for Xtra said police had seized Nekschot’s computer, sketches, CDs, DVDs and telephone at the time of his arrest.

Source

And so ended freedom of speech in the former free and liberal minded Netherlands.

Since when is it the governments duty to see that no one is offended?  I think the long term effects need to be pondered before idiotic things like this are done.  Where does it stop?

If I got offended every time some one made fun of the South, being from Kentucky, or my religion, I would stay mad all the time.  I do get mad if someone thinks I’m stupid just because I’m from Kentucky.  But I don’t expect the goverment to step in and arrest people for being that way

Neo - 16 May 2008 09:11 AM

Since when is it the governments duty to see that no one is offended?

Never!

hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm, most of our political and satire cartoonists not to mention most of our adult comedians would have been arrested years ago.  That’d make our lives pretty boring.

What’s the difference between ‘hate speech’ and ‘free speech’?

Hate speech is usually defined as having the deliberate intent to incite prejudice or hatred against a group. Every country has its limits to free speech, usually those determined to be those that benefit their society.

To clarify, hate speech is not saying you hate someone or something, it is propagandising in such a way as to persuade other people to hate them.

I think that what makes the difference is the intent behind what is said.

I must say Nekschot’s cartoons are very much on the edge…
They depict Arabs/ Muslims a bit like how the Arab cartoons depict Jews, which in their turn remind me a lot of anti-Jewish cartoons from the nazi era..(sorry for the crappy sentence-structure but you catch my drift).

David B. - 16 May 2008 02:45 PM

Hate speech is usually defined as having the deliberate intent to incite prejudice or hatred against a group. Every country has its limits to free speech, usually those determined to be those that benefit their society.

To clarify, hate speech is not saying you hate someone or something, it is propagandising in such a way as to persuade other people to hate them.

In the Netherlands there is a socialist-democrat/(rightwing)christian coalition government at the moment. Just recently the rightwing christians tried to make new thougher laws on blasfemy and against offensive expresions (by word, cartoon, movie, photography etc).
They failed.

So they are pissed now and try to impose their will with other means.

Means of intimidation and abuse of the law.
Police raided the cartoonist with a force of ten police officers. They arrested him and kept him under lock for 36 hours. They confiscated his computers, cellphone, artwork etc etc

By doing this the Netherlands went totally against European Law. European Law, which (officialy) stands above laws of the Union members is much freer when it comes to cartoons/free speach.

Anyway, it is a scandal and a direct attack on free mind/speach.

More news on this topic

Actually, it is probably in compliance with European Law that the action was taken. Under a European agreement signed in 2007, incitement to hatred or violence against a group or a person based on colour, race, national or ethnic origin must become punishable by a custodial sentence of at least one year, though member states can elect to limit prosecutions to only the more severe cases.

No it´s not in compliance, since European Law has exemptions for writers, journalists, cartoonistst etc to protect them just against this kind of harrassement.

No there’s a general protection for satire (which vary from state to state, I believe), but you are not suddenly free to engage in hate speech just because you put it in a word-balloon and draw a funny picture underneath. You need only look to Middle-Eastern cartoons depicting variations of the ‘blood libel’ to see that just because it’s a cartoon, that does not make it satire.

(I won’t post any here, you’ll have to google.)