A file photo of female Muslims in Denmark.

COPENHAGEN, August 4, 2005 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – A Danish radio commentator has been charged with violating anti-racism laws for his anti-Muslim remarks in which he called for "exterminating Muslims" in Europe.

The right-wing local Copenhagen station Radio Holger itself faces a license withdrawal over the same issue.

Kaj Vilhelmsen, a pundit on Radio Holger, had called on people to kill Muslims, whom he named as "supporters of Muhammad", to combat terrorism, Agence France Presse (AFP) said Wednesday, August 3.

“Muslims should be expelled from Western Europe in order to fight against terrorism. We can only prevent their bombings in various places using this method.

"Fanatic Mohammed supporters should be terminated as well. The meaning of this is to kill some of them,” Vilhelmsen had said.

Copenhagen police inspector Ove Dahl said Vilhelmsen "has admitted saying certain things, but denies having made racist remarks".

"It is up to the courts to determine whether these kinds of remarks are a violation of anti-racism laws," he told the Danish news agency Ritzau.

Vilhelmsen faces up to two years in prison if convicted for his anti-Muslim remarks.

Following the anti-Muslim remarks, the Denmark Radio Broadcast Central Committee has decided to hold an emergency meeting on August 16, to revoke Radio Holger's broadcasting license.

The Committee moved quickly on the issue, since the decision about the racist broadcast of the Copenhagen Radio Council of which Radio Holger is bound would take a few months.

Committee Chairman Christian W. Scherfig said they could not wait a few months to reach a decision on the issue.

If the Central Radio Council reaches a decision on revoking Radio Holger's license, there is no other authority to object the decision.

A recent report by the International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights (IHF) also said that Muslim minorities across Europe have been experiencing growing distrust, hostility and discrimination since the 9/11 attacks.

Danish Muslims - estimated at 170,000 or around 3 per cent of Denmark's 5.4 million - sounded the alarms that much more restrictive steps would be taken by the government in future.

Islam is Denmark's second largest religion after the Lutheran Protestant Church, which is actively followed by four-fifths of the country's population.