THE HAGUE, March 29: Dutch businesses on Saturday threatened to sue far-right lawmaker Geert Wilders if his anti-Islam film led to a commercial boycott, as several more Muslim countries condemned it.

“I don’t know if Wilders is rich, or well-insured, but in the case of a boycott, we would look to see if we could make him bear responsibility,” Bernard Wientjes, chairman of the Dutch employers’ organisation VNO-NCW, told the newspaper Het Financieel Dagblad.

“A boycott would hurt Dutch exports. Businesses such as Shell, Philips and Unilever are easily identifiable as Dutch companies,” he was quoted as saying.

Malaysia’s former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad suggested a boycott on Saturday, echoing a similar call by media in Jordan.

“If we boycott Dutch products, they will have to close down their businesses,” Mohamad told reporters. “If the world’s 1.3 billion Muslims unite and say they won’t buy, then it (the boycott) will be effective.”

Since the release of the 17-minute documentary on the Internet on Thursday, Muslim nations have condemned the film, as has UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.

Although there were no mass disturbances in the Netherlands, in Utrecht two cars were set ablaze overnight, with a slogan calling for the death of Wilders.

On Friday night the British website host pulled the film from its site www.liveleak.com, citing threats made to staff — although it can still be seen on YouTube and other sites.

Egypt’s Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit called the film an “offence to the religion of more than a billion Muslims,” adding his voice to condemnation from several other Muslim countries and international bodies.

Cairo wants the Netherlands and other Western countries “to adopt laws which criminalise any offence ... against religious symbols, just like flagrant violations of human rights and forms of racism,” he said in a statement.—AFP