De Telegraaf, the Netherlands’ largest newspaper, has announced it would appeal a controversial ruling from a judge who ordered it to clarify a comment piece about Hamas to prevent readers from misinterpreting it.
Editor-in-Chief Kamran Ullah told Brussels Signal on March 11: “After consulting with our lawyers, we have decided to appeal the ruling in the so-called ‘comma case’.
“In my own words, the judge stated that Nausicaa Marbe’s column is linguistically correct but that readers might interpret it differently,” he said.
“This effectively puts the judge in the role of an editor and could restrict the freedom of columnists if they are forced to constantly consider how readers might interpret their words.
“It is encouraging to see that the journalistic advocacy organisation NVJ [Dutch Association of Journalists] supports us in this matter, and we also notice that columnists from other newspapers are standing behind Nausicaa,” Ullah stated.
“We head to the higher court with confidence.”
In a podcast from his own newspaper, on March 8, Ullah already said: “A higher court must rule on this matter because it is a question of principle.
“The issue at hand is whether columnists and opinion makers have complete freedom to write what they want without having to consider whether a reader might interpret it differently.”
On February 27, a preliminary relief judge had ordered De Telegraaf to publish a notice alongside journalist Marbe’s comment piece published 10 days previously.
The controversy centred on the potential misreading of the text rather than an actual accusation of fraternising with the terrorist organisation Hamas.
The judge acknowledged that De Telegraaf‘s literal interpretation of the sentence was correct but ruled there was a real risk of misinterpretation.
It was argued that the average reader might not immediately distinguish between a comma and a colon, leading to an unintended conclusion.
Marbe’s piece included the paragraph:“On Sunday, there will also be shouting on Dam Square during a ‘solidarity demonstration with Gaza’ organised by Hamas-affiliated organisations, Milli Görus, and the mosque umbrella group FIO. FIO is a Hague-based umbrella organisation, but the city administration probably has no issue with them siding with Hamas.”
At issue was the comma between “organisations” and “Milli Görus”, which the judge argued could be read as a colon, implying that the organisations that came after the comma were Hamas-related.
Because of this, the judge ruled the newspaper had to add visible text under the comment on its website stating: “With this sentence, which is poorly worded, the impression may arise that FIO (the Federation of Islamic Organisations), an umbrella group of 25 Hague-based mosque organisations, is affiliated with Hamas. This was explicitly not the columnist’s intention.”
Critics have argued that in doing so, the judge had assumed an editorial role, prioritising potential perceived reader interpretations over the actual wording.
A Dutch judge has ruled that De Telegraaf, the Netherlands’ largest newspaper, must add a clarification to a comment piece about Hamas to prevent readers from misinterpreting it. https://t.co/FW3ENDIzhr
— Brussels Signal (@brusselssignal) March 7, 2025
