Geert Wilders is not the only defendant on trial in The Netherlands for speaking out against Islam. The following report by Dr. Van Helsing describes the case of Raffie Chohan, an Islam-critical immigrant from Indonesia who was convicted of “hate speech” last month in a Dutch court.

Another free speech trial in the Netherlands

By Dr. Van Helsing

On September 28, 2016, Mrs. Raffie Chohan stood trial for statements she made during a speech she gave at a Pegida demonstration on November 11, 2015, in the Netherlands.

Statements she made during her 15-minute speech were:

‘The Islamisation of the Netherlands has already begun, supported by the Dutch government and the EU.’

‘The left doesn’t realize that they are being used by Islam, and once Islam achieves a majority they will be finished, too. Just look at Iran, look at Libya etc. The left thinks that it will never become a victim of Islam. (…) Islam will use the Western concept of freedom of speech to practise its own ideology. As long as Islam is a minority, we can live alongside it in a multicultural society. Because Islamic ideology doesn’t know freedom of religion, it will not tolerate a multicultural society.’

‘Without Islam, the Netherlands would be a fantastic country.’

She placed the written version of her speech on Facebook and added: ‘Another reason to hold Muslims in contempt and to hate is for their insane ideology, because it isn’t a religion of peace anywhere.’ For this statement she was charged with hate speech (Sections 137d (1) and 137c (1) of the Dutch criminal code).

Another statement she made was: ‘The massive inbreeding in the Islamic culture inflicts irreparable damage on Muslims.’ This statement wasn’t used to bring charges against her.

Raffie Chohan’s final statement during her trial:

‘Thank you, your honour, for the opportunity to have the last say in this trial. Today, Wednesday September 28, 2016, I stand trial in Utrecht before a court of three justices. It affects me quite a bit, and it is the first time ever for me to stand trial in a criminal court. I don’t feel like I have done anything wrong, I just shared my knowledge with people who were taking part in a demonstration. It is freedom of speech that is at stake. Any person who reads my speech can come to only one conclusion: I am sharing my opinion. My opinion, however, has been taken out of context. I will give a few examples of behavior of people who are followers of Islam.

My experience with Islam started early in life. My father was a Muslim and my mother a Christian woman. Growing up in Indonesia, I learned early that my mother wanted to raise her children in a different way than my father. I learned how it felt to have the rules of Islam imposed upon oneself. My father wanted to familiarize my sister with his relatives in Pakistan and left her there for five years, without my mother’s consent. Diverting from the Western values that we share, my father brought another woman into the house. My mother and her five children, of which I was the youngest, were confined to two separate rooms in our large house. My brother had to join him in attending the mosque, which led to furious quarrels between my parents. My father considered him a devout Muslim. Once my parents were divorced, my mother, my sister and brother, and I moved to the Netherlands. I was eight at that time.

I gathered my knowledge of Islam by reading a lot, studying papers and having conversations with Muslims, and former Muslims too. Many women where afraid to share their knowledge with me for fear of retaliation. I understood this, because you cannot build confidence if they don’t feel safe.

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