Gregorius Nekschot is the pseudonym of a controversial Dutch cartoonist, notable for his disagreement and mockery of political ideas regarding Dutch multicultural society, and the behaviour of people with rigid religious or ideological views. His comics also frequently mention on Islam. Gregorius Nekschot publishes his cartoons primarily on his own website, but are also available in print from one publisher. On May 13, 2008, the cartoonist was arrested and taken into custody for interrogation. He was released after 30 hours, and it was expected that he would be prosecuted for discriminatory speech, for insulting certain groups in society on the basis of their race or beliefs and possibly also for the crime of inciting hatred. His arrest has caused much debate in the press and parliament in what has been coined The Affair by Trouw newspaper on May 24, 2008. Charges against him were eventually dropped in September 2010. In December 2011, he announced he would no longer publish cartoons.
Pseudonym In an interview the cartoonist has given an explanation for his sombre name. With "Gregorius" he refers to Pope Gregory IX, who instituted the Papal Inquisition, and "Nekschot" means literally "shot in the neck," a method used, according to the cartoonist, by "fascists and communists to get rid of their opponents."
Freedom of speech
Theo van Gogh Gregorius Nekschot was an associate of filmmaker Theo van Gogh who was murdered in 2004 by a young, homegrown, Muslim fundamentalist by the name of Mohammed Bouyeri. Van Gogh supported Nekschot by including his cartoons on his website De Gezonde Roker (The Healthy Smoker). Both Van Gogh and Gregorius Nekschot criticized Islam's perceived unwillingness to adopt the Dutch value of tolerance. Nekschot's two comic books Misselijke grappen (Sick jokes) are published by Uitgeverij Xtra in Amsterdam. The same company publishes Theo van Gogh's Allah weet het beter (Allah knows best).
Blasphemy Following the murder of Theo van Gogh, a debate arose in the Netherlands about the limits of freedom of speech. This debate arose again when Danish cartoon affair and the making of the controversial film Fitna in 2008 by Dutch MP Geert Wilders of the Party for Freedom (PVV). Justice minister Ernst Hirsch Ballin of the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA) party wished to revitalize a law on blasphemy and expand it with protecting non-religious philosophies of life. Since writer Gerard Reve was acquitted in 1966 for writing about intercourse with God as a donkey, the government had no longer prosecuted blasphemy. Minister Ballin met with opposition in parliament however, wished to completely abolish laws on blasphemy.
Lèse majesté Another law which might affect cartoons by Gregorius Nekschot is that of 'Lèse Majesté.' The cartoonist has indeed drawn the majesty of Queen Beatrix in compromising positions. The last time that such an offense, in an artistic expression, was prosecuted, was in 1969, when the majesty of Queen Juliana was insulted by cartoonist Willem Holtrop, who presented her as a red-light district prostitute, and was fined 200 guilders.De touwtjes strakker, by Syp Wynia in Elsevier magazine, May 24, 2008, pg 12. However, the cartoons for which Nekschot was investigated did not include those of the queen in sexually explicit positions with the prime minister.
Discrimination Never have artists been prosecuted for discriminatory speech. Discriminatory speech was first brought within the penal code in the years preceding World War II. The present wording of the code follows a 1966 treaty to banish all forms of racial discrimination. In 1996 however, a Christian MP, and a few years later, a Muslim imam were prosecuted for derogatory comments about homosexuals. Both were acquitted, the judge giving priority to their freedom of religion..Het strafrecht als dreiging voor de vrijheid, column by Afshin Ellian in NRC Handelsblad, May 24, 2008.
In a weekend special of Trouw newspaper on May 24, 2008, about the Nekschot 'affair' author Nahed Selim of Allah houdt niet van vrouwen (Allah doesn't like women, 2007) argues that discrimination laws have turned out to be discriminatory themselves, allowing only religious people to speak freely. She cites a case of a mosque in Amsterdam selling ancient books with paragraphs about homosexuals and of an imam in The Hague giving instructions for light corporal punishment of women, both of which were not prosecuted. She observes this to be a reversal of the intention of freedom of religion: to protect people from discrimination, not to provide a safe haven for it. Selim concludes that equality before the law in a rechtsstaat then demands abolishing the laws on discriminatory speech.
Criticism Nekschot has met with strong resistance from elements in society he seeks to criticize. His early work appeared in the satirical Amsterdam student magazine Propria Cures. The mainstream newspapers were unwilling to publish his cartoons on a regular basis, with the exception of weekly magazine HP/De Tijd. Nekschot says he has been threatened by fundamentalist Muslims and Dutch anarchists. Dutch Jews, perceiving parallels with cartoons in Nazi publication Der Stürmer, and a member of parliament for the CDA party emailed him with strong objections to his cartoons. After his release Nekschot said he had never before received objections from authorities. Only a local initiative against discrimination of Muslims, supported by a city district of Amsterdam, once summoned him to remove cartoons from his website.Interview with Syp Wynia in Elsevier, May 24, 2008, pg 13. However, he deliberately seeks to criticize Islam because of the 'apartheid' it advocates between men and women, Muslims and non-Muslims and because he considers circumcision of children a crime.Ideologie leidt tot onheil, by Thieu Vaessen in HP/De Tijd, May 23, 2008. The cartoonist was nominated for a Clickies, a Dutch web-comic award in 2005. A review of his Misselijke grappen in de Volkskrant newspaper of March 31, 2006 considered his (quoting the artist himself) 'needlessly offensive' work was not mirrored by any form of idealism. The reviewer did not discuss who is to judge the need or cause to offend. Having no such judge, may in itself be an ideal. When asked where he himself believed freedom of speech should stop, Nekschot replied that a cartoon should never call for violence.
Arrest On May 13, 2008, Gregorius Nekschot was arrested at his home in Amsterdam. The cartoonist was taken into custody for interrogation, but released after 30 hours. According to the press release by the prosecutor's office, the arrest was made in the presence of a judge, a public prosecutor, two assistants to the prosecutor and six civilian clothed police officers. According to the same release, the home of the cartoonist was traced by establishing who paid the monthly fees for the website and a search of the premises was necessary to confirm the identity of the cartoonist. After his release, Nekschot arrived at the editorial board of HP/De Tijd magazine with a new mobile phone, his previous one apparently confiscated by the police.Misselijke Grappen, editorial HP/DeTijd website 21 May 2008 In an interview with newspaper de Volkskrant, he commented that it was the first time in 800 years of satire history in the Netherlands that an artist was put in jail. Expanding on his arrest Nekschot said that police took much material like DVDs from his home. They also confiscated sketchbooks with never published drafts for his cartoons. He suspects that they were hoping to find material which would tie him to right-wing extremist views. Nekschot says that he remained silent during interrogation, but nerves and laughter once broke his silence when police were reading him in official jargon a description of one of his cartoons. 'It felt like being in a Monty Python'. Justice minister Hirsch Ballin informed Parliament on May 20, 2008, that the purpose of the police visit was the search itself and that it was only a coïncidence that the cartoonist had been present and was arrested.Zaak-Nekschot zint Kamer niet in Het Parool, May 21, 2008, pg 5. He also added that two uniformed police officers had stood guard in front of Nekschot's house.Voorlopig verslag Tweede Kamer
Allegations Gregorius Nekschot's arrest was preceded by several reports to the police of discrimination, the first of which was made in April 2005. Many said the reports were made at the initiative of a controversial Dutch convert to Islam, but no source was given. The office of the public prosecutor alleged that after reviewing dozens of cartoons by Gregorius Nekschot, it considered that eight cartoons, by attributing negative qualities to certain groups of people, are insulting and constituted the crime of discrimination according to article 137c and possibly also the crime of inciting hate according to article 137d of the Dutch Penal Code.
Anonymity In several reports the cartoonist's fear of losing his anonymity and becoming a target of physical attack have been mentioned. The editors of HP/De Tijd have reported that the cartoonist experienced that one police officer made fun of him losing his anonymity because of his arrest.
Prosecution The public prosecutor in the case has been named as Paul Velleman. In an article in de Volkskrant Henny Sackers, from the law school of Radboud University in Nijmegen, is quoted to suggest that the prosecutor may use Nekschot as a case-study to explore the limits of the laws on free speech.Zoeken naar de grenzen van de grap by Luuk Esser in De Volkskrant of May 21, 2008, pg 4. In parliament, the evening before, the justice minister Hirsch Ballin had denied a similar suggestion by MP De Wit for the SP. Hirsch Ballin specified his own involvement with the arrest of Nekschot as follows. The prosecutor's office had been intensely and meticulously busy with the cartoons and had been in contact with the minister on several occasions. The prosecutor himself had done a very careful assessment, in which the LECD was of the utmost importance, but had by himself concluded for which cartoons he was going to prosecute. In December 2006 the prosecutor had informed the minister about his intention to press charges against Gregorius Nekschot. In this communication the prosecutor specified which cartoons he deemed liable to prosecution and which cartoons not. There followed, said the minister, more conversations, deliberations and further particulars. In the meantime an 'interdepartmental study group cartoon problems' (interdepartementale studiegroep cartoonproblematiek) had been established to anticipate situations as in Denmark. Never had the minister given the prosecutor an order to stop or continue prosecution. He had only reviewed the consistency of the prosecution: for which cartoons to prosecute and for which ones not. There followed, once more, deliberations. Those contacts were continued, also within the study group. All this time the identity of Gregorius Nekschot was not investigated. Until the beginning of 2008 it was thought he was in fact two people.Tweede Kamer, 85e vergadering, Dinsdag 20 Mei 2008 (ongecorrigeerd verslag op 25 mei 2008).]
All charges against Nekschot in the case were eventually dropped in September 2010. The only caveat is that he is still not allowed to show the cartoons on his own website any more due to Dutch penal code's article 137c, which forbids incitement to hatred. The images can still be reprinted when it is for journalistic reasons.
MDI (Racism Monitoring Centre)