Censorship, Islamist Style

A week ago, in a Dutch courtroom, the jihadist murderer of Dutch filmmaker Theo Van Gogh admitted his crime. As his chilling comments made clear, Mohammed Bouyeri felt neither guilt nor shame for his actions:

After the prosecution's closing statement Bouyeri, who had refused to say anything about his motives during the trial, took the opportunity to make a final statement.

"I can assure you that one day, should I be set free, I would do exactly the same, exactly the same," he said, speaking slowly in sometimes halted Dutch.

He said he felt an obligation to Van Gogh's mother Anneke, present in court, to speak, but offered no sympathy.

"I have to admit I do not feel for you, I do not feel your pain, I cannot -- I don't know what it is like to lose a child," he said as Van Gogh's family and friends looked on.

"I cannot feel for you ... because I believe you are an infidel," he added.

"I acted out of conviction -- not because I hated your son."

(emphasis added-DD)


Van Gogh was an outspoken, controversial critic of radical Islam. In cooperation with a former Muslim and Dutch member of parliament named Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Van Gogh made a short film on the status of women in Muslim society called Submission. On November 2nd, 2004, Bouyeri, a Dutch-Moroccan who had embraced radical Islamism and was involved with a jihadist terror cell known as the Hofstad Group, walked up to Van Gogh on an Amsterdam street in broad daylight. The terrorist ignored Van Gogh's pleas for mercy, shooting him 15 times, stabbing him, then cutting the Dutchman's throat. After completing his grisly task, Bouyeri pinned a note to the body with his knife. The note was addressed to Ayaan Hirsi Ali, and its five pages included the following:

Islam will celebrate victory by the blood of the martyrs. There will be no mercy for the wicked, only the sword will be raised against them. No discussion, no demonstrations, no parades, no petitions, only death will separate truth from lies.

I know definitely that you, Oh America, will go down. I know definitely that you, Oh Europe, will go down. I know definitely that you, Oh Netherlands, will go down. I know definitely that you, Oh Hirsi Ali, will go down.


The murder of Theo Van Gogh was more than just another jihadist atrocity; it was a horrific, blood-stained act of censorship. As Bouyeri has openly admitted, Van Gogh was murdered for his opinions and his film. He was an infidel who dared to speak ill of Islam.

I work in a profession where most people believe that the biggest threats to intellectual freedom come from the FBI theoretically having the right to view library transactions, or from the local hicks who want to ban the Harry Potter books. Meanwhile, the Islamists openly seek to murder authors and filmmakers such as Van Gogh, Salman Rushdie, and Naguib Mahfouz. Yes, the jihadists do hate our freedom, and they would gladly destroy it if given the opportunity.