Dutch Muslim party

A new political party to represent Muslims in the Netherlands will be established:

A group of Muslims in Amsterdam plan to launch the Muslim Democratic Party (MDP) in May and contest local elections in Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague and Utrecht, according to their spokesman Mohammed Jabri.

He told news agency ANP that the group was also looking at contesting the local election in a city in the province of North Brabant where a large number of Muslims live.

Depending on how well the party grows, Jabri said it might contest the next general election.

And here is some information on the party's spokesman:

Meanwhile, MDP spokesman Jabri is a writer and columnist for Elqalem.nl (www.Elqalem.nl), a website for Muslims in the Netherlands. The website's homepage features a cartoon of a person dropping a Jewish Star of David into a wastepaper basket.

A column on one page 'thanks' Muslim critics Ayaan Hirshi [sic] Ali, Van Gogh and Geert Wilders and people like them for helping in one go "to make young Muslims in the Netherlands more aware of their Islamic roots".

Van Gogh was shot and stabbed to death apparently because of his movie "Submission", which accused the Koran of sanctioning violence against women.

MP Hirsi Ali, who collaborated on the film, and MP Wilders went into hiding after the murder following threats to their lives for criticising Islam. Wilders has returned to the public eye and Hirsi Ali is expected to attend Parliament again next week.

The article on the website finishes by noting: "Since 9/11 [September 11 attacks on the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon] one million Americans have become Muslims. God's ways are truly unfathomable".