http://www.elsevier.nl/nieuws/nederland/ar...n/ja/index.html has the original.
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>Mosque: Cabaret artist from Amsterdam can be killed</b>
Tuesday 23 January 2007
A spokesman for the As soenah mosque in Amsterdam thinks that cabaret artist and law student Ewout Jansen, son of Arabian-expert Hans Jansen, can be killed for the jokes he makes about Islam.
That is what is reported by Folia, the weekly paper of the University of Amsterdam. The paper spoke to some managing members of the mosque, located in the city-region Westerpark, about the 23-year old cabaret artist.
<b>Jokes</b>
Reason for the conversation are some jokes about islam that Jansen makes in his performance. As a relative unknown cabaret duo, Jansen and Etienne Kemerink perform with their show 'Our Father' in the little halls of the country, but sometimes also in high schools. Especially in vmbo-schools [a secondary school stream], his jokes on islam evoke angry reactions of muslim boys, so he told us earier in an interview with Campus-tv.
Folia wanted to know of the As soenah mosque how it thought about Jansen's jokes.
During the interview the translator of the mosque tells Folia that the cabaret artist can be 'beaten or be killed' for his jokes about muslims. 'A muslim *must* react (if someone makes jokes about islam). He must say: "Stop with that nonsense." A radical muslim can beat him, or kill him.'
<b>'Finish [someone] off'</b>
On the question of whether he approves of that, the man [translator] answers: 'Yes. If he goes too far, it's allowed. He may finish him off. One may not insult islam.' (Listen to a part of the Folia-interview.) If the judge does not intervene, a muslim must take the law into his own hand, according to the man. He then adds to it a comparison with the murdered filmmaker Theo Van Gogh. 'He was threatened many times. But he ignored them.'
Jansen takes the incident quite laconically. 'I did for a moment get shocked when I heard it, but I'm not afraid,' he tells Elsevier.nl. He thinks that the translator let himself go a bit without intending to. 'The imam of the mosque had already walked away when the translator said that, so I don't think this is the opinion of the mosque-management.'
He doesn't feel personally attacked. 'The imam got to see a bit of our show. After that he said that jokes about islam, no matter how innocent, are not at all allowed. So that is not specially directed at me. He actually wants a complete ban on muslim-jokes, and that is of course not realistic.'
Jansen does not intend to adjust his show. 'Many cabaret artists moderate their tone, but I think that's a bit cowardly.'
<b>Aboutaleb</b>
The As soennah mosque can not be reached for comments. In haste, PvdA [political party] alderman [lawkeeper] Ahmed Aboutaleb has visited the mosque, his representative tells [us]. <b>There he was told that the man, who is the translator according to Folia, has no connections with the mosque-management. It would have been a coincidental visitor. </b>The mosque let Aboutaleb know that the incident was strongly to be regretted and is planning to ban the man from entry into the mosque.
Elsevier still waits from a reaction from the editor of Folia.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->Don't you just love islamic backpeddling?
Where are India's pseculars who came up for MF Hussain's Freedom of Speech? On one of their paid/sponsored visits overseas, will they consider dropping by in The Netherlands and criticise the intolerant anti-freedom of speech islamics of this mosque? Won't they defend poor student Jansen and this show of his, for its freedom of speech? After all, Jansen's attitude to the death-threat is typically the laissez-faire Dutch attitude, doesn't his character deserve defense, especially since the Indian pseculars failed to come up for Theo van Gogh?
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>Mosque: Cabaret artist from Amsterdam can be killed</b>
Tuesday 23 January 2007
A spokesman for the As soenah mosque in Amsterdam thinks that cabaret artist and law student Ewout Jansen, son of Arabian-expert Hans Jansen, can be killed for the jokes he makes about Islam.
That is what is reported by Folia, the weekly paper of the University of Amsterdam. The paper spoke to some managing members of the mosque, located in the city-region Westerpark, about the 23-year old cabaret artist.
<b>Jokes</b>
Reason for the conversation are some jokes about islam that Jansen makes in his performance. As a relative unknown cabaret duo, Jansen and Etienne Kemerink perform with their show 'Our Father' in the little halls of the country, but sometimes also in high schools. Especially in vmbo-schools [a secondary school stream], his jokes on islam evoke angry reactions of muslim boys, so he told us earier in an interview with Campus-tv.
Folia wanted to know of the As soenah mosque how it thought about Jansen's jokes.
During the interview the translator of the mosque tells Folia that the cabaret artist can be 'beaten or be killed' for his jokes about muslims. 'A muslim *must* react (if someone makes jokes about islam). He must say: "Stop with that nonsense." A radical muslim can beat him, or kill him.'
<b>'Finish [someone] off'</b>
On the question of whether he approves of that, the man [translator] answers: 'Yes. If he goes too far, it's allowed. He may finish him off. One may not insult islam.' (Listen to a part of the Folia-interview.) If the judge does not intervene, a muslim must take the law into his own hand, according to the man. He then adds to it a comparison with the murdered filmmaker Theo Van Gogh. 'He was threatened many times. But he ignored them.'
Jansen takes the incident quite laconically. 'I did for a moment get shocked when I heard it, but I'm not afraid,' he tells Elsevier.nl. He thinks that the translator let himself go a bit without intending to. 'The imam of the mosque had already walked away when the translator said that, so I don't think this is the opinion of the mosque-management.'
He doesn't feel personally attacked. 'The imam got to see a bit of our show. After that he said that jokes about islam, no matter how innocent, are not at all allowed. So that is not specially directed at me. He actually wants a complete ban on muslim-jokes, and that is of course not realistic.'
Jansen does not intend to adjust his show. 'Many cabaret artists moderate their tone, but I think that's a bit cowardly.'
<b>Aboutaleb</b>
The As soennah mosque can not be reached for comments. In haste, PvdA [political party] alderman [lawkeeper] Ahmed Aboutaleb has visited the mosque, his representative tells [us]. <b>There he was told that the man, who is the translator according to Folia, has no connections with the mosque-management. It would have been a coincidental visitor. </b>The mosque let Aboutaleb know that the incident was strongly to be regretted and is planning to ban the man from entry into the mosque.
Elsevier still waits from a reaction from the editor of Folia.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->Don't you just love islamic backpeddling?
Where are India's pseculars who came up for MF Hussain's Freedom of Speech? On one of their paid/sponsored visits overseas, will they consider dropping by in The Netherlands and criticise the intolerant anti-freedom of speech islamics of this mosque? Won't they defend poor student Jansen and this show of his, for its freedom of speech? After all, Jansen's attitude to the death-threat is typically the laissez-faire Dutch attitude, doesn't his character deserve defense, especially since the Indian pseculars failed to come up for Theo van Gogh?