Critic to convert: Dutch politician known for Islamophobia becomes Muslim

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WASHINGTON: Former outspoken far-right Dutch politician, known for Islamophobia announced on Monday that he has converted to Islam.

Joram van Klaveren, 39, who left the Geert Wilders’ far-right Dutch party is the second ex-PVV politician to convert to Muslim religion last October, according to local media reports.

The book Klaveren was writing to demonise Islam became a story of his conversion instead. “During that writing, I came across more and more things that made my view on Islam falter,” he told Dutch radio.

‘If you believe in one god and that Mohammed (PBUH) was a prophet, alongside Jesus and Moses, then you are a Muslim,’ Van Klaveren, who has orthodox Protestant roots, told the paper.

‘I have contributed to creating and maintaining that bad image of Islam, but you cannot imagine how preconceptions work, until you have to deal with them yourself,’ he said.

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Van Klaveren was a member of the far-right Freedom Party (PVV) from 2010 to 2014.

A harsh critic of Islam, Klaveren during his time as PVV politician, said “Islam is a lie” and “The Quran is poison,” newspaper NRC reported.

Van Doorn, another former PVV member who converted to Islam congratulated and praised Klaveren on Twitter, saying he never thought that he would see so many converts from his former party.