Dutch far-right politician Geert Wilders has tweeted an image of an evil-looking man which he announced as the winner of a contest for caricatures of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh).
The drawing Wilders called the “winner” was a dark image of a sinister-looking bearded man with a wrinkled brow wearing a black turban and black shirt.
5Pillars will not be reproducing the blasphemous image in deference to the exalted status of the Holy Prophet.
“Freedom of speech must prevail over violence and Islamic fatwas,” said Wilders, who heads the largest opposition party in the Dutch parliament.
In August last year, Wilders canceled a similar contest after Dutch police arrested a 26-year-old man who had threatened to kill him over his anti-Islam stance.
Wilder’s previous plan to hold the cartoon contest prompted huge demonstrations in some Muslim-majority countries, including Pakistan.
Wilders is an outspoken critic of Islam and has made controversial comments regarding the Prophet Muhammad in the past.
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After he announced the plan to hold the competition last year, Khadim Hussain Rizvi, the leader of the Pakistani Islamic party Tehreek-e-Labbaik, issued a fatwa against Wilders. Some 10,000 protesters participated in Rizvi’s march, chanting “we will die to protect the honour of the Prophet,” and holding a large banner that said they were holding a “peaceful protest.”
In a tweet on Saturday, Wilders said it was unfortunate that Rizvi was not arrested in Pakistan for issuing fatwas against him.
In the past Wilders has said: “I don’t hate Muslims, I hate Islam”. In 2007, he called the Quran a “fascist book” which should be outlawed in the Netherlands like Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf.
He believes that all Muslim immigration to the Netherlands should be halted and all settled immigrants should be paid to leave.
Referring to the increased population of Muslims in the Netherlands, he has said: “Take a walk down the street and see where this is going. You no longer feel like you are living in your own country. There is a battle going on and we have to defend ourselves. Before you know it there will be more mosques than churches.”
