11 September 2007

Amsterdam (dpa) - Muslim critic Ehsan Jami is working on a movie about homosexuality in Islam. On Monday his spokeswoman confirmed the rumours in an article about Jami published in daily newspaper NRC.next.

She added that 22-year-old Jami is currently working on the script. He wants to start filming next year. Several directors will reportedly contribute to the film.

The Islamic Republic of Iran has formally protested Jami's yet to be produced film.

Jami's audiovisual project is the second movie about homosexuality and Islam in the making in the Netherlands.

Two years ago, former legislator Ayaan Hirsi Ali of the Liberal Party also announced she was preparing a film on this subject, Submission 2.

Her movie would be the second part of the production she made with the late Dutch director Theo van Gogh.

Van Gogh was assassinated by Muslim fundamentalist Mohammed Bouyeri in November 2004, only a few months after Submission had been released.

In the interview with NRC.next Jami is also quoted as saying, "Radical Muslims who threaten others, who spoil the situation for gays, women and the unfaithful, need to be deported from the Netherlands right away."

[Copyright dpa 2007]

Subject: Dutch news