To get an idea of what sentiment this topic generates, the above photo is of protesters outside a news conference held by Dutch MP Geert Wilders in London in October. The controversial lawmaker, who wound up on al-Qaida’s hit list back in 2008, released his film “Fitna” — “Ordeal,” in Arabic — that year, comparing the Quran to Adolf Hitler’s tome “Mein Kampf.” Today he went on trial in Amsterdam, facing 15 months behind bars on hate-crimes charges. The Times of London reports:

“Mr Wilders, 46, sat impassively as his lawyer argued that the leader of the Freedom Party, which made big gains at last summer’s European elections, had made his critical remarks about Islam in his role as an elected Member of Parliament.

Bram Moszkowicz said that Mr Wilders had a mandate to speak out against what he saw as the Islamisation of the Netherlands and argued that he had not discriminated against a specific national group, saving his attacks for the ideology of political Islam.

Around 200 supporters of Mr Wilders had travelled from as far as Cologne in Germany to hold up placards declaring that free speech was under assault by Islam and by the politically correct. The case is being watched as a test of the limits of political tolerance in the Netherlands after years of relaxed immigration policies which have seen the Musim population rise to around 1 million out of 16 million.

…Mr Wilders faces a 70-page charge sheet covering five counts of breaking Dutch law on incitement and discriminiation against Muslims in more than 100 public statements, for example by likenening the Koran to Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf and calling for an end to the ‘Islamic invasion.’

The alleged offences include Mr Wilders’ film Fitna, which shows images of 9/11 and beheadings interspersed with verses from the Koran. It ends with a the controverisal Danish cartoon of the prophet Muhammad wearing a bomb as a turban.

At one point there was laughter in the public gallery when Mr Moszkowicz tried to insist on his client’s right to have the entire charge sheet read out in court. The chief prosecutor refused saying that his voice would not hold out that long and the panel of four judges settled for a summary which still lasted almost 20 minutes.

…Birgit van Roessel, for the prosecution, countered that ‘expressing his opinion in the media or through other channels is not part of an MP’s duties.’”

Read more on the film “Fitna” here.

(Photo by Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images)