Public prosecutor says PVV Islam video does not incite hatred or discrimination

The public prosecution department will not take legal action about a video made by the anti-Islam PVV party ahead of the local elections because the contents are not against the law.

In total, 17 people have made a formal complaint about the video which was broadcast on the public television channels.

The video, which lasts 2.5 minutes, features the words ‘Islam is’ in red, followed by words and phrases such as violence, forced-marriage, terror, deadly, Jew-hater, gay-hater and ‘deadly’. The words drip blood as they appear on the screen.

The public prosecution department said in a statement that it did not consider the video incited hatred, discrimination or violence because it focused on Islam as a religion, not its followers.

Prime minister Mark Rutte was among those to criticise the video when it was first broadcast. ‘I think I represent the bulk of the population if I describe this video as tasteless,’ he said, but declined to comment further.

PVV leader Geert Wilders welcomed the public prosecutor’s decision, saying ‘the truth about Islam’ would be seen again during party political airtime.