AN Iranian-born politician who heads a Dutch group for ex-Muslims is being given additional police protection after he was attacked near his home, a spokesman for the National Co-ordinator for Counterterrorism has announced.

The attack on Ehsan Jami has caused an outcry in the Netherlands, where a filmmaker critical of Islam was murdered in an Amsterdam street three years ago, and where high-profile lawmakers have faced death threats from Islamist militants.

Mr Jami, 22, was set upon by three assailants – two Moroccans and a Somali – at the weekend, the third time he had been attacked, his adviser Afshin Ellian told Dutch media.

The Committee for Ex-Muslims, which Mr Jami heads, aims to support former Muslims and lift taboos on domestic violence and violation of rights within Muslim communities.

Similar organisations exist in Britain, Germany and Scandinavia.

After the attack, Dutch anti-immigration politician Geert Wilders called for the Koran to be banned in the Netherlands, branding it a “fascist book” in the vein of Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf which legitimises violence.

Writing in Dutch daily De Volkskrant, Wilders said: “Ban this wretched book just like Mein Kampf is banned. Send a signal … to Islamists that the Koran can never, ever be used in our country as an excuse or inspiration for violence.”

Hitler’s Mein Kampf, published in 1925, outlines the future Nazi dictator’s racist ideology. It has been banned from sale in the Netherlands since the end of World War Two.

Ayhan Tonca, chairman of the CMO umbrella group of Dutch Muslim organisations said Wilders’ comments were best ignored.

“This is typical Wilders. This is a ridiculous idea,” he said “There is not much news at the moment so he is trying to create some.”

Wilders, whose new party won nine seats out of the 150 in parliament in last November’s elections, is well known for his firebrand remarks on Islam.

He has warned of a “tsunami of Islamisation” in a country home to 1 million Muslims, and has lived under heavy protection since receiving death threats from Islamist militants in 2004.

Earlier this year, American artist Charles Merrill set fire to a £30,000 Koran as a protest against the homophobia it contains. The artist, who recently edited the Bible with a black marker and pair of scissors, destroyed the Koran at an undisclosed Chicago location. “The purpose of editing and burning Abrahamic Holy Books is to eliminate homophobic hate,” Merrill stated. “Both ancient books are terrorist manuals.”

He continued: “I inherited the rare Islamic book from my late wife, Evangeline Johnson Merrill. As the daughter of the founder of the international pharmaceutical giant, Johnson and Johnson, Inc., doors of kings and queens opened to her around the world. Evangeline was given the rare manuscript by the late King of Jordan when she was on a mission for the United Nations in the 1950.”

“Airplanes are flown into buildings because of words, and hate crimes are committed against against gays,” Merrill said.

Merrill is a self-made millionaire, artist, fervent atheist and cousin of the co-founder of Merrill Lynch. Visit his website here.