There are no legal grounds to ban a British-Palestinian expert in Sharia law from coming to the Netherlands to give a speech, justice minister Ivo Opstelten told MPs on Thursday night.

A majority of MPs had called for Haitham al-Haddad to be banned for comments he is alleged to have made about Jews.
Al-Haddad had been invited to attend a two-day symposium at Amsterdam’s VU University, but the authorities cancelled the event because of the commotion. Al-Haddad has now been invited to attend a debate at the Balie debating centre in Amsterdam.
Opstelten told MPs that as repugnant as he found al-Haddad’s views, there are no grounds to ban him. EU citizens can only be refused entry on the grounds they pose a serious danger to society, he said.