Dutch populist Wilders calls for ban on Koran

AMSTERDAM, Aug 8 (Reuters) Dutch anti-immigration politician Geert Wilders has called for the Koran to be banned in the Netherlands, branding it a ''fascist book'' in the vein of Adolf Hitler's ''Mein Kampf'' which legitimises violence.

Writing in Dutch daily De Volkskrant today Wilders said: ''Ban this wretched book just like Mein Kampf is banned. Send a signal ...

to Islamists that the Koran can never, ever be used in our country as an excuse or inspiration for violence.'' Hitler's Mein Kampf, published in 1925, outlines the future Nazi dictator's racist ideology. It has been banned from sale in the Netherlands since the end of World War Two.

Dutch prosecutors said they would look into whether Wilders' statements were grounds for charges of discrimination and inciting hatred, which could carry a sentence of a year in prison or a fine of up to 6,700 euros (9,225 dollars).

''We will look at the matter to see if it merits prosecution,'' a spokeswoman for the prosecutors' office said.

Wilders, whose new party won nine seats out of the 150 in parliament in last November's elections, is well known for his provocative remarks on Islam.

He has warned of a ''tsunami of Islamisation'' in a country home to 1 million Muslims, and has lived under heavy protection since receiving death threats from Islamist militants in 2004.

Wilders said an attack over the weekend by two Moroccans and a Somali on a young Iranian-born politician who heads a Dutch group for ''ex-Muslims'' had spurred him to write.

The attack on Ehsan Jami, 22, caused an outcry in the Netherlands, where the murder in 2004 of Theo Van Gogh, a filmmaker critical of Islam, by a Dutch-Moroccan Muslim militant led to an anti-Muslim backlash and exposed social tensions.

Issues of immigration and integration no longer top the political agenda, despite the efforts of Wilders and his allies.

''Allah sees the death penalty as fitting for those who no longer believe,'' Wilders wrote today, adding this view had fuelled the attack on Jami, now under police protection.

The Muslim holy book should be banned from sale, from use in mosques and private households, Wilders added.

The Dutch minister for living and integration, Ella Vogelaar, admonished Wilders, saying that his comments were insulting to the majority of Muslims in the Netherlands.

REUTERS AB HT2212