Islamic cleric urges Wilders beheading - report

Sep 3, 2010, 15:37 GMT

Amsterdam - An Islamic cleric notorious for his hate sermons has urged Muslims in the Netherlands to behead Dutch anti-Islamist politician Geert Wilders, De Telegraaf reported Friday.

   The daily posted a link with an audio recording of the call made by Lebanese-Australian cleric Feiz Muhammed, 40, in which he accused Wilders of insulting the prophet Mohammed and so should die.

   The recording was taken from an internet conference call Muhammed's backers in the Netherlands, De Telegraaf said.   'Those who ridicule our teachings, who laugh about Islam and humiliate it must be killed,' Muhammed is heard as saying, according to De Telegraaf. 'Behead him, chop his head off.'

   In a reaction to the report, the right-wing politiican Wilders said he was shocked and was taking the murder threat seriously. He was now in touch with the Dutch anti-terrorism authority NCTB.

The Dutch secret service AIVD also has a copy of the recording, with Wilders asking the agency whay he was only finding out about the death threat through the newspaper report.

Wilders, head of the right-wing Freedom Party (PVV), has for years been kept under the protection of the state security apparatus.

The death threat triggered bad memories in the Netherlands from the murder of film director Theo van Gogh in broad daylight in November 2004. Then, a Muslim fanatic shot van Gogh, who was a vehement critic of Islam, and then slit his throat in front of shocked bystanders.

Wilders has raised controversy and angered Muslims with his attacks on Islam. His internet video Fitna in 2008 accused Islam of being an ideology of terrorism and fascism, while describing the prophet Mohammed as a 'barbarian, mass murderer and paedophile.'

In a recent Australian TV interview Wilders repeated his attacks and said Western nations should stop the immigration of Muslims.

Muhammed is popular among young radical Muslims around the world with his extremist views and insulting comments about Jews. Among others, he argues that women who wore mini-skirts or tight jeans were themselves to be blamed if they were raped.

But Muhammed has so far not been known to call for the murder of Islam's opponents.