You probably won’t be surprised to learn that I have little time for Geert Wilders. Bluntly put, I loath and detest all he stands for. However, I also think it is a very bad idea for the Dutch court to reverse a previous ruling and now bring charges against Wilders for "inciting hatred". Oliver Kamm puts the case that the prosecution will do more to damage liberty than uphold it:
…the case for liberty has never been that it protects sensibilities. It is rather that by allowing people’s beliefs to be scrutinised, criticised and — yes — insulted, bad ideas are more likely to be superseded by better ones.
The court has stated that it ‘considers appropriate criminal prosecution for insulting Muslim worshippers because of comparisons between Islam and Nazism made by Wilders’. As Kamm says, in effect we now have a situation where criminal law is being invoked against insults to a system of belief. This is not likely to end well.
Geoff Coupe's Blog 
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