Update: VH writes that Andrew Bostom should also have been included in the witness list.
Our Flemish correspondent VH — who has forsworn sleep for the duration of the Wilders trial — has compiled the following partial list from several sources of witnesses that Geert Wilders’ lawyer plans to call during his trial:
Bram Moszkovicz and Geert Wilders want to call Arabist Hans Jansen to testify in Wilders’ trial. “Jansen says that the Quran is drenched in violence. That Islam is marked by violence, fear, coercion and obedience.” They further want to call Law Professor Afshin Ellian as a witness. Ellian, who fled from Iran, is classified as an Islam-critic. Furthermore, the legal counsel and law professor Theo de Roos (who is of the opinion that there is “little chance of a successful prosecution”) will be called as witness, and the criminal justice professor Henny Sackers. Also mentioned on the list are the renowned experts on Islam Robert Spencer and Wafa Sultan, from the United States.- - - - - - - - -
Remarkably, Moszkowicz also wants to call a judge of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) as a witness. The European court was previously involved in a case about incitement by a Belgian politician involving pamphlets on immigration policy.
It was already known that Mohammed Bouyeri, the murderer of Theo van Gogh, would be called as a witness. “This man has expressed the hope that Wilders will be destroyed by Allah. He then was in fully capable attribution. If he had the chance, he would kill Theo van Gogh again”. But: The Public Prosecutor (OM) finds it unnecessary to call Mohammed Bouyeri as witness. “From the case against him it is known what he somewhat confusedly declares about Islam. We do not attribute any authority to him on Islam.”
The prosecution did agree, however, that Jneid Fawaz, imam of the Hague As-Sunnah-mosque, will be called as a witness to comment on the impact of Islam in society. The senior Iranian clerics that Moszkovicz wants to call as witness are Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati, chairman of the powerful Council of the Guardians, Ayatollah Mohammed Jasdi, who is said to be the spiritual leader of the Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
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There are by now so many Wilders GoV posts that I don’t know if I have missed these Wilders words (in Jihad Watch’s most recent entry):
(quote:) "Mister Speaker, judges of the court,
I would like to make use of my right to speak for a few minutes.
Freedom is the most precious of all our attainments and the most vulnerable. People have devoted their lives to it and given their lives for it. Our freedom in this country is the outcome of centuries. It is the consequence of a history that knows no equal and has brought us to where we are now.
I believe with all my heart and soul that the freedom in the Netherlands is threatened. That what our heritage is, what generations could only dream about, that this freedom is no longer a given, no longer self-evident.
I devote my life to the defence of our freedom. I know what the risks are and I pay a price for it every day. I do not complain about it; it is my own decision. I see that as my duty and it is why I am standing here.
I know that the words I use are sometimes harsh, but they are never rash. It is not my intention to spare the ideology of conquest and destruction, but I am not any more out to offend people. I have nothing against Muslims. I have a problem with Islam and the Islamization of our country because Islam is at odds with freedom.
Future generations will wonder to themselves how we in 2010, in this place, in this room, earned our most precious attainment. Whether there is freedom in this debate for both parties and thus also for the critics of Islam, or that only one side of the discussion may be heard in the Netherlands? Whether freedom of speech in the Netherlands applies to everyone or only to a few? The answer to this is at once the answer to the question whether freedom still has a home in this country.
Freedom was never the property of a small group, but was always the heritage of us all. We are all blessed by it.
Lady Justice wears a blindfold, but she has splendid hearing. I hope that she hears the following sentences, loud and clear:
It is not only a right, but also the duty of free people to speak against every ideology that threatens freedom. Thomas Jefferson, the third President of the United States was right: The price of freedom is eternal vigilance.
I hope that the freedom of speech shall triumph in this trial.
In conclusion, Mister Speaker, judges of the court.
This trial is obviously about the freedom of speech. But this trial is also about the process of establishing the truth. Are the statements that I have made and the comparisons that I have taken, as cited in the summons, true? If something is true then can it still be punishable? This is why I urge you to not only submit to my request to hear witnesses and experts on the subject of freedom of speech. But I ask you explicitly to honour my request to hear witnesses and experts on the subject of Islam. I refer not only to Mister Jansen and Mister Admiraal, but also to the witness/experts from Israel, the United States, and the United Kingdom. Without these witnesses, I cannot defend myself properly and, in my opinion, this would not be an fair trial." (end quote)
I am glad that he mentioned Jefferson...
And here there's the above text in another subtitled video.
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