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Original Web Host Pulls Much-Criticized Anti-Islam Video

By Howard Friedman

Wired reports that on Friday, the video-hosting website LiveLeak took down the controversial anti-Islamic video Fitna from its website, replacing it with a statement reading in part: "Following threats to our staff of a very serious nature.... LiveLeak has been left with no choice but to remove Fitna from our servers. This is a sad day for freedom of speech on the net...." As previously reported, the video, produced by right-wing Dutch politician Geert Wilders, was posted by LiveLeak on Thursday along with its own statement defending free speech. The video, however, remains available on line from a number of servers, including Google Video and YouTube.

Meanwhile, according to the AP yesterday, artist Kurt Westergaard, whose controversial cartoon of Muhammad was used in the video, complained that Wilders had violated his copyright by taking the cartoon out of its original context. Condemnations of the video came from governments of Iran, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Pakistan, Singapore, Slovenia and Jordan as well as from U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon. (Radio Netherlands Worldwide). Dutch Muslims were mild in their reactions to the video, as they waited for a court ruling, now promised for April 7, in which the Dutch Islamic Federation seeks to ban the video and obtain a court-ordered apology from Wilders. The Sunday Pakistan Daily Times says that Dutch businesses have threatened to sue Wilders if his video leads to a boycott of Dutch goods.

Full post as published by Religion Clause on March 30, 2008 (boomark / email).