Britain was dragged into the controversy over an anti-Islam film made by a far-Right Dutch MP after Iran condemned its appearance on a UK-based video-sharing website today.

“This heinous measure by a Dutch lawmaker and a British establishment... is indicative of the continuation of the evilness and deep vengeance such Western nationals have against Islam and Muslims,” Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman said.

Mohammad Ali Hosseini, called on the Dutch, British and other EU governments to block any further showing of “this blasphemous, anti-Islamic and anti-cultural film”.

The 17-minute “documentary” by Geert Wilders had been broadcast on the internet with the aid of an organisation based in Britain, he said.

Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim nation, also condemned the film, titled Fitna, an Arabic word meaning “strife”, while Bangladesh warned it could have “grave consequences”.

A coalition of Jordanian media said it would sue Mr Wilders and urged Arab leaders meeting at a summit in Syria this weekend to review ties with the Netherlands and Denmark.

Governments in the Muslim world are wary of a repeat of what happened two years ago when the publication in Denmark of cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad ignited rioting in a dozen countries, leading to about 50 deaths.

Mr Wilders’s film, which intersperses images of the September 11 attacks and other Islamist bombings with quotations from the Koran, was first posted on the website of his small right-wing Freedom Party on Thursday night.

It disappeared after a few minutes because of “technical difficulties” before becoming available in Dutch and English on LiveLeak, a Manchester-based website, raising fears that extremists could also target British interests. Some 4,000 British troops are serving in Iraq and a further 7,800 in Afghanistan.

The company running LiveLeak defended its decision to host the film. “Liveleak.com has a strict stance on remaining unbiased and allowing freedom of speech so far as the law and our rules allow,” it said in a statement posted online.

David Miliband, the Foreign Secretary, said “we hold fast and firm to European values of freedom of speech”. However, speaking in Slovenia where he was attending talks with his EU counterparts, he added that “in each of our countries there are legal and judicial systems to ensure that freedom is not used to incite religious or racial hatred”.

An Indonesian foreign ministry spokesman urged his country’s people not to “be incited” by the film which he said had “a racist flavour and is an insult to Islam, hidden under the cover of freedom of expression”.

Arab media were scathing about Mr Wilders today but reluctant to pay him attention and rise to what they saw as his baiting of the Muslim world. A senior editor at al-Jazeera said his influential television station had not given the controversy prominence.

“We don’t see a big story yet. The man [Mr Wilders] is a marginal, low-profile politician and he has even been criticised by Dutch politicians,” he told The Times.

Khaled al-Maeena, the editor of Arab News, an English language Saudi daily, said: “We should let barking dogs bark. This man [Mr Wilders] is an agent provocateur.” He added: “Our paper and the media here [in Saudi Arabia] are asking for calm and peace.”

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