Persvrijheid | The freedom of expression in the Netherlands
Recent examples concerning the scope of freedom of expression and human rights in the Netherlands.
1. In September 2008 De Telegraaf has lodged a complaint with the European Court of Human Rights because the General Intelligence and Security Service (AIVD) has eavesdropped two journalists of the newspaper. The AIVD decided in 2006 to eavesdrop the two journalists after they published information from confidential, secret documents of the BVD (predecessor of the AIVD). In an attempt to find the leak of the secret service the journalists were observed and bugged for months. The Supreme Court of the Netherlands recently ruled that the AIVD was entitled to eavesdropping because the national security would have been at stake. The Netherlands Association of Journalists (NVJ) supports the complaint of De Telegraaf.
2. In May 2008 the cartoonist Gregorius Nekschot (pseudonym) was arrested on suspicion of violating hate speech laws. According to the prosecutor eight or nine published cartoons of Nekschot are insulting to Muslims and possibly also inciting hatred. The police had seized Nekschot’s computer, sketches, CDs, DVDs and telephone at the time of his arrest. The cartoonist was detained for thirty hours.
3. In 2003 the Court of the Hague declared that the photo ban around the house of Crown Prince Willem-Alexander and Princess Maxima was contrary to freedom of the press. Since 2005 a Media code applies for photographing members of the royal house. It is forbidden for journalists to make camera recordings of members of the royal house when they are not in their official functions. Journalists who act in accordance with the code will be invited to all the so-called media moments of the royal house. Measures will be taken against journalists who would violate the code, including exclusion of accreditation. When Amalia, daughter of Crown Prince Willem-Alexander and his wife Maxima, went to school for the first time in December 2007 only a limited number of photographers and cameras were allowed to be present.
4. In the Netherlands the contact between detainees and journalists is banned. The Dutch Penitentiary Law (Penitentiaire Beginselenwet) prescribes that a prison director decides whether a prisoner may give an interview, which almost never happens. According to Professor Gerard Schuijt this law is contrary to the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).
5. The Netherlands Association of Journalists (NVJ) supports journalist Alexander Nijeboer in the legal minefield in which he has been involved after the publication of his book about the whistleblower Fred Spijkers. The case is concerned with the freedom of expression, and the injustice that a journalist on his own must fight against the costly and specialized lawyers of his opponents.