Image Credit: ROBIN VAN LONKHUIJSEN / Contributor / Getty 
Fourteen Dutch Muslim organizations have filed a formal legal complaint against right-wing leader Geert Wilders, accusing him of sedition, group insult, and incitement to hatred over a divisive social media post ahead of the November elections.
The complaints cite an image Wilders shared on X last week. The split-screen graphic contrasts a young blonde woman with the caption “PVV” (Wilders’ Party for Freedom) on one side with an older woman in a headscarf captioned “PvdA” (the Labour Party) on the other, with the following text: “The choice is yours on 29/10.” The date references the upcoming Dutch parliamentary elections where polls project the PVV to win.
The coalition of Muslim groups, including mosque federations, Muslim Rights Watch, and advocacy groups like Meld Islamofobie, argue the post employs Nazi-era propaganda tactics to vilify minorities. They cite over 9,000 complaints against the post registered with the Dutch anti-discrimination platform discrimination.nl.
“Islamophobia has been rampant in Dutch society for a long time,” the organizations stated, adding that the image perpetuates “visual dehumanization” and fuels anti-Muslim hatred. Attorneys Adem Çatbaş and Haroon Raza, representing the groups, assert the post fits a pattern of escalating hostility toward Muslims in the Netherlands.
Wilders, a longtime critic of Islam, dismissed the complaint as “madness” on X, stating: “I have fought for freedom and the truth all my life, and I bow to no one.”
Vandaag deden negen moskee koepels, Muslim Rights Watch, Meldpunt Islamofobie, Federatie Islamitische Organisaties, collectief Jonge Moslims en een vrouwencollectief aangifte tegen mij. Waanzin.
— Geert Wilders (@geertwilderspvv) August 11, 2025
Ik vecht voor vrijheid en de waarheid, mijn hele leven lang en ik buig voor niemand. pic.twitter.com/tAnwgpRfUc
This isn’t the PVV leader’s first legal clash over anti-migration rhetoric. In 2020, a Dutch appeals court convicted him for inciting discrimination during a 2014 campaign event where he asked supporters if they wanted “more or fewer Moroccans.” After the crowd chanted “fewer,” Wilders replied: “Well, then we’ll arrange that.” The court ruled the remarks “unnecessarily insulting.”
Geert Wilders has insisted Europe is nearing a cultural and demographic crisis, calling the Netherlands’ October elections a pivotal moment for the continent. The PVV leader says mass immigration threatens to turn Europe into “Eurafrica or Eurabia,” citing U.S. President Donald Trump’s warning that immigration is “killing Europe.”
Wilders accused “activist judges” and left-wing politicians of blocking stricter border controls, asserting many asylum seekers enter illegally from safe countries like Germany. According to PVV data, 10 million migrants have arrived in Europe since 2015, costing Dutch taxpayers €800,000 per asylum seeker over their lifetime.
Warning of “accelerating Islamisation,” Wilders cited projections of Europe’s Muslim population tripling by 2050 and stated that integration is failing.
Living under police protection for 20 years due to death threats, Wilders said the election is a last stand against rising “violence and antisemitism.”
