Court scraps Dutch government's entry ban against three Islamic preachers
The court in The Hague has scrapped the Dutch government’s decision to deny entry to the Netherlands to three Islamic preachers invited to speak at the Ramadan Expo in Utrecht this week. According to the court, the government did not sufficiently substantiate why these speakers would pose a threat to public order.
On Wednesday, Minister David van Weel of Justice and Security and Marjolein Faber of Asylum and Migration announced that the three preachers would not be allowed to enter the Netherlands because they “incite hatred and condone violence.” The Ministers said that their decision was made based on advice from the National Coordinator for Counterterrorism and Security (NCTV).
But the court’s verdict showed that the NCTV’s advice indicated that only one of the three preachers could be considered an extremist speaker and that only to an extent. There is not enough evidence to say the same for the other two.
According to the NCTV, the potentially extremist speaker is guilty of spreading disinformation and condoning acts of terrorism by denying the Hamas terrorist attack on Israel on 7 October 2023. But the counterterrorism agency added that his statements must be seen in the context of the broader Israeli-Palestinian conflict “in which both parties spread disinformation and use violence against civilians.”
Minister Van Weel said that he was disappointed that the “three extremist speakers are allowed to enter the Netherlands after all,” posting on X. “A disappointing outcome because their rhetoric contributes to hatred and hostility. We respect the verdict, but warn them: there is no place here for hate speech and condoning violence.”
