DAMASCUS, Syria — Islamic and Arab leaders denounced a Dutch film Saturday that portrays Islam as a ticking time bomb aimed at the West, demanding international laws to prevent insults to religions.
The 15-minute film, entitled “Fitna,” “ordeal” in Arabic, by anti-immigrant politician Geert Wilders brought condemnations from Muslim capitals and street protests in Pakistan after it was posted on a website Thursday.
Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir called on Muslims at an Arab summit in Damascus to “challenge those who insult” the prophet and proposed “a binding international charter” calling for the respect of religious beliefs.
In Cairo, Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit called Wilders’ film “a humiliation” to Islam.
Wilders said he made the film because “Islam and the Koran are dangers to the preservation of freedom in the Netherlands in the long term, and I have to warn people of that.”
The European Union’s 27 foreign ministers objected to the film’s depiction of Islam.
