Anger as Wilders briefly relaunches Dutch anti-Muslim cartoon contest

Far-right Dutch politician Geert Wilders yesterday briefly revived a controversial Prophet Mohammed cartoon competition.

Just hours after launching the contentious event on Twitter, where he had urged followers to submit caricatures, he announced it had ended and was a stunt to highlight the importance of freedom of speech.

It came a year after a similar competition was cancelled amid international protests and death threats being sent to Mr Wilders.

In his first post late on Saturday the MP and leader of the Netherlands largest opposition party, the Freedom Party, invited his Twitter followers to send in satirical drawings of the Prophet Mohammed.

“#FreedomOfSpeech must prevail over violence and Islamic fatwas,” he wrote in the post.

However, yesterday morning he issued a further tweet: “Mission accomplished. End of contest”, he wrote above a picture of what he said was the winning drawing, depicting an angry-looking man with a beard.

Many Muslims regard caricatures of the Prophet Mohammed as highly offensive.

According to Dutch newspaper Algemeen Dagblad, Mr Wilders’ announcement was made in response to the Pakistani government’s refusal to take action against Khadim Hussain Rizvi – who had allegedly threatened on Twitter to behead the politician.

Mr Wilders had said: “Nor does the Dutch government continue to force them to protect freedom of expression. To send a clear signal, we are still doing the contest.”

His stunt was more than a year after he first announced plans for a cartoon competition in August 2018.

The move angered many Muslims, particularly in Pakistan, where rallies were held before the event was cancelled.

A day after Mr Wilders halted the event, an Afghan man stabbed two US tourists in Amsterdam. The man was jailed for 26 years in October.

In November, a Dutch court sentenced a Pakistani man to 10 years in jail for planning to assassinate Mr Wilders.

Known for his anti-immigration and anti-Islam statements, Mr Wilders lives in a safe house under 24-hour protection from the Netherlands state.

In response to his Twitter post, the National Co-ordinator for Counterterrorism and Security said politicians “must be able to do their work” and it would ensure they can “in a safe environment”.

In 2015, terrorists killed 12 people in the Charlie Hebdo magazine office in Paris, France, after it published cartoons of Prophet Mohammed.