mediawatchwatch.org.uk

Dutch News reports that the Public Prosecutor in the Netherlands has declared that Geert Wilders’ anti-Koran/immigration film Fitna did not break any laws.

At least not in Holland. In Jordan, however, a campaign group with the catchy name “The Messenger of Allah Unites Us” continues to press for an international arrest warrant against the Dutch MP. They have also produced a “boycott poster” showing Dutch and Danish products. Companies will only be removed from the list if they publicly denounce Wilders and the Danish media, and sign up for an international law forbidding the denigration of “prophets”.

Two Dutch companies, Friesland Foods (dairy produce) and Zwanenberg (sausages), have already taken out ads in the Jordanian press doing just that.

While the Jordanian action makes a refreshing change from death threats and embassy burnings, they do have damned cheek. Perhaps a counter-boycott is called for. Let all supporters of free expression undertake not to buy any…er…um… Damn those crafty Jordanians!

UPDATE:(1 July) A court in Jordan has officially charged Wilders, and summoned him to appear before the court within 15 days. The charges include insulting Islam, defamation, and violation of online publishing laws. If Wilders does not appear, they will try to issue an arrest warrant via interpol.

The nation’s favourite frothing fundie, Stephen Green of Stephen Green’s Voice (aka Christian Voice), is facing bankruptcy after a court ordered him to pay £90,000 costs for his failed blasphemy case against the BBC.

And he is feeling rather bitter about it:

It should be enough for Mark Thompson and Jonathan Thoday that they got away with blasphemy, insulting God and the Lord Jesus Christ, at least in this life. For these rich, powerful men to pursue me into the bankruptcy courts over money I don’t have would be vindictive.

Vindictive? Like Green’s relentless self-interested pursuit of the BBC and John Thoday, and his gloating over the dearth of royalties accruing to Stewart Lee and Richard Thomas as a result of his censorship campaign wasn’t vindictive?

While we hesitate to celebrate anyone’s financial ruin, it is hard to feel sympathy for the whingeing hypocrite as he begs Thompson and Thoday to waive their charges. And we seriously doubt it will shut him up.

But with his recent national humiliation at the hands (or rather cloaca) of a seagull, the fact that his actions actually precipitated the abolition of the blasphemy law, and now this pending bankruptcy, one does wonder what kind of message he thinks his imaginary friend is trying to convey to him.

UPDATE: (28 June) In a mailshot Green asks supporters to beg Thompson and Thoday to waive their fees. Bizarrely, he also seems to think the comedian Frank Skinner “may be sympathetic”, and suggests writing to him too!

Is this a sign of creeping prudification? Asda has censored a birthday cake because it showed the bare bottom of a 5-month-old baby.

Mother Gail Jordan wanted to suprise her 21-year-old son on his birthday by presenting him with a cake bearing photo of his 5-month-old self. Asda’s scan-to-cake service staff, however, stuck a star over the infant’s bum because it was deemed too nude.

The sensitive among you should avert your eyes now:

According to Islamonline, Danish Muslim groups are trying for the fifth time to get a successful prosecution against the Jyllands-Posten for publishing the Motoons.

Muslim “leader” Mohammed Khalid Samha said

We were quite sure that the Danish judiciary would not be fair to Muslims.

The judge is the last case explained the situation quite clearly, but it still hasn’t registered in he Allah-clouded brains of these imams:

It is a known fact that acts of terror have been carried out in the name of Islam and it is not illegal to make satire out of this relationship.

So we are glad that the Danish Muslim groups have taken MWW’s advice and decided to go to the European court. As we said, they have already spent a small fortune on lessons in the importance of free expression in a democracy. It would be silly to give up before they have learned properly.

Jesus is a Cunt news! The Cradle of Filth t-shirt which has been getting its wearers and distributors into legal trouble since 1997, has hit the headlines again.

A boy in Perth, Australia, was arrested and charged with “offensive behaviour” after a police officer spotted him walking down the street.

The Rev Matt Hunt of Helenswale Baptist Church:

It’s fairly common language these days to express sadness, anger or hurt. It’s a degrading word to use and Jesus is anything but that. It’s like calling white black.

When someone comes to the point of saying Jesus is the devil or Jesus is ‘expletive’, the Bible does say be very careful because you’re on thin ice.

Lawyer Bill Potts said that the arrest highlighted the need for an Australian Bill of Rights:

If a person was wearing the shirt in a church or a religious rally where it was specifically intended to offend or cause disruption, then perhaps the prosecution might stand a chance.

However, to criminalise juvenile or boorish messages is to bring the law into disrepute. The police are acting like the thought police and censors.

[youtube]http://youtube.com/watch?v=0cXNzcxDrN4[/youtube]

The above advert for Heinz Deli Mayo has been withdrawn four weeks before the end of its run because of “consumer complaints”.

Apparently the image of two men kissing was regarded as “inappropriate”, “offensive”, and “unsuitable to be seen by children” by more than 200 viewers, putting it on course to be the most complained about advert this year.

UPDATE: (26 June) The ad created quite a splash in the USA, too. The American Family Association and Fox’s Bill O’Reilly expressed their outrage.

Randy Sharp of the AFA:

What does mayonnaise have to do with homosexuals and their lifestyle?

When Jerry Springer: the Opera opens in Cincinnati on Thursday it will be greeted by a “rally of reparation” made up of protesting pseudo-Catholic cultists.

The campaign is being organised by Robert Ritchie, the red-kneed biscuit muncher who entitles himself “executive director” of America Needs Fatima – an offshoot of the pseudo-Catholic American Society for the Defense of Tradition, Family, and Property. The group is viewed with suspicion by mainstream munchers.

UPDATE: (27th June) Cincinnati Blog has some photos of last night’s demo – at least one of the protesters was wearing jackboots!

Two Basque newspapers are on trial for making fun of King Juan Carlos I. The first, a satirical supplement of the newspaper Deia, carried this photo montage on its front page:

It refers to an incident in 2006 when the king shot a circus bear which had been plied with vodka to make it easy prey for him. The headline reads “He was cooked”.

The other Basque paper, Gara, joins Deia on trial for the separate offence of publishing an article entitled “The Tribulations of Yogi Bear”. Judge Fernando Grande-Marlaska overruled an earlier exonerating judgement to insist that the cartoon and articles were “an attack on the monarch’s self-esteem” and damaging to the Crown.

One of the cartoonists, José Antonio Rodrigues, replied:

The King of Spain is perhaps the most overprotected person in Europe. […] If his self-esteem has been damaged, well, perhaps he needs to see a psychologist.

Meanwhile, the two cartoonists who were fined 3,000 euros for another royal-bashing cartoon last year, are appealing the decision. Their cartoon of Crown Prince Felipe shagging his wife became a collectors item after a judge ruled that all copies of the magazine be removed from newsstands.

Finally, The Times also reports that a Catalonian comedian and actor called Pepe Rubianes has been charged with “insulting Spain” for saying,

I wish they would shove Spain up their arse, see if it explodes and leaves their balls hanging from the bell tower.

The public prosecutor wants Rubianes fined 21,500 euros.

[youtube]http://youtube.com/watch?v=TLB1r9lh7gY[/youtube]

Hindus in the US are protesting about the latest Mike Myers movie, Love Guru, because – you guessed it – it hurts the sentiments of the Hindu community.

Bhavna Shinde, representing Hindu Janjagruti Samiti and Sanatan Society for Scientific Spirituality, has called for Paramount to be suspended from the MPAA for showing

unethical and unprofessional business practices, which have resulted in the one-billion-strong Hindu community worldwide feeling hurt

According to Paramount, the slapstick film portrays a purely fictional faith. There is a character called Guru Satchabigknoba, and another known as Coach Cherkov. Sounds a scream.

However, Shinde and her fellow complainers are not convinced by this argument, saying that the parody could be misinterpreted by teenagers who would thus get a skewed view of Hinduism. The real thing, apparently, is not at all funny or ridiculous.

A letter of compliant sent to Viacom’s founder said:

Hindus are now left with no other alternative, but to consider launching a worldwide boycott of Paramount and Viacom products, and not to have any dealings with Paramount. The responsibility for this will lie with Paramount and Viacom, for not making any efforts to have an open dialogue with protestors and arrive at a mutually acceptable solution.

Paramount has actually agreed to a pre-screening for Hindus in the UK before it opens in August

If the Hindus decide to take offence at it, they should make an offering to the great god Diddums.

Toonophobes in Denmark have failed once again in their attempts to prosecute the Jyllands-Posten for printing the 12 Motoons.

The Western High Court in Aarhus upheld last year’s ruling, saying it was not proven that the JP’s purpose was to depict Muslims as criminals and terrorists. Acts of terror have been carried out in the name of Islam, and it was not illegal in Denmark to draw cartoons which illustrate that.

In spite of this being the umpteenth time these clowns have had this simple principle explained to them, they still do not seem to have grasped the concept. Mohammed Nehme, a spokesman for the Islamic Faith Community, said:

We are very disappointed and sad about the outcome. We had hoped it would be in our favor but now we have the court’s word that what they did was in order.

And yet they still haven’t decided whether or not to appeal to the Supreme Court. Go on, Mohammed. You’ve already spent a fortune on lessons, so you really should keep going until you learn.