Asylum minister Marjolein Faber and justice minister David van Weel have banned three islamic preachers from entering the country for “spreading hate”.

The ministers’ statement did not name the preachers involved but according to the Telegraaf, they are British citizens Mohammed Hijab and Ali Hammuda, and Abu Bakr Zoud, who is from New Zealand. They were invited to the annual Ramadan Expo, which will be taking place at the Jaarbeurs in Utrecht in March.

On social media, Faber called it “unacceptable that Islamic speakers abuse our freedom to spread hatred,” she said. Van Weel spoke of “hate mongering and condoning violence which have no place in the Netherlands”.

The ban followed a motion tabled by right-wing parties JA21 and VVD after the preachers allegedly made comments about women and gays, and sex with minors.

One of the speakers denied that Hamas had committed terrorist attacks against Israel, the ministers claimed. Opposition parties GL-PvdA, Denk and PvdD voted against the motion.

Rainbow flag

The allegations against the preachers were published by the Telegraaf two weeks ago, citing YouTube videos in which Ali Hammuda allegedly said the attack on Israel was “made up” while Mohammed Jijab was to have said that “being intimate with a 13 or 14-year-old with enormous hips and breasts does not do any harm”. Both videos have since been removed.

The paper quoted a comment by Abu Bakr Zoud from 2022 saying “every rainbow flag should “come with a warning about anal cancer so people know what to expect”.

The Dawah group, which organises the Expo Ramadan, said in a statement that  “hundreds and sometimes thousands of hours of online material from preachers will be trawled for a single quote that can be interpreted negatively”. The group said it rejected the Telegraaf’s allegations.

In October, Utrecht local council stopped its cooperation with the Dawah group, which it said “repeatedly invited controversial speakers”. However, mayor Sharon Dijkstra said it was not in her power to stop them from speaking at events.