Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2012-02-13-Speech-1-022-000"
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"en.20120213.13.1-022-000"2
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"Ladies and gentlemen, I would like to start this sitting by mentioning a case that I find extremely worrying; indeed, one that we should all find very worrying. It concerns a young Saudi Arabian journalist by the name of Hamza Kashgari. This young journalist was charged in Malaysia with making blasphemous statements on his Twitter account. He was handed over to Saudi Arabia at the request of the Saudi authorities. In Saudi Arabia he faces the death penalty for these allegedly blasphemous comments and is under threat of execution. There is no doubt that the religious feelings of every individual are to be respected. Even journalists have an obligation to do this. However, freedom of speech and freedom of thought are also universal values that we must all defend. For a young journalist to be executed in Saudi Arabia for a comment on Twitter, for a poem, cannot in any way be considered acceptable. I will therefore – subject to your agreement – do all I can to prevent this execution.
Ladies and gentlemen, a large number of Members have also spoken to me over the weekend and during the day today about the fact that the Dutch Freedom Party, the PVV, has set up a website inviting people to air their complaints about EU citizens from Central and Eastern Europe who have come to the Netherlands under the free movement of workers. Commissioner Reding has already issued a statement criticising this website in very strong terms. In her statement she emphasised the fact that we are an open continent in which citizens are free to move about and to work wherever and whenever they wish. At the request of many Members, I will make further investigations into this website – which I have not seen myself, so I am unable to comment on its content – and will bring up the matter with the Dutch Prime Minister Mr Rutte at a meeting we have planned for 1 March. I, too, find it very worrying, in view of the tone of Ms Reding’s comments."@en1
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