The International Cairo Film Festival jury awarded a children's short, "Doggie" the Golden Cairo for Short Features, less than two weeks after banning Dutch entries because of far-right politician Geert Wilders' film, which portrays the Koran as a "fascist book."

If the film ban had stood, it would have been the first punitive action taken by a Muslim country in response to Wilders' film, which is entitled "fitna", the Arabic word for war or division.

In expectation that the soon-to-be released anti-Islam film will further antagonize the Islamic world, the Netherlands has raised its terrorism threat level to "substantial."

In a veiled reference to the film and earlier controversial cartoons, the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) said: "The Islamophobes remain free to carry on their assaults due to the absence of legal measures necessary against the misusing or abusing [of] the right to freedom of expression."

The 57-member organization warned in a report Thursday that an "alarming" rise in anti-Islamic insults and attacks, it called "Islamophobia," had become a threat to international security.

The OIC said it was struggling to get the West to understand that Islamophobia "has dangerous implications on global peace and security," and that "many Muslim countries are themselves victims of terror and active partners of the international community in combating terror and extremism."

Despite the uproar, the Dutch MP has vowed to show his 15-minute film on the Internet this month.

Wilders has received the support of Danish cartoonist Kurt Westergaard, who found himself at the center of a storm of anger after his depictions of the Prophet Muhammad were published in a Danish paper.

"Geert Wilders just has to broadcast his film," Westergaard told a Danish newspaper on Monday.

Westergaard said in the interview he regretted that people died in the protests against his cartoons, but stressed, "I cannot take responsibility for that." He added, "Muslims have got to learn [to take insults]. Politicians face insults daily.... Muslims as a group should accept religion is a private affair."

Nevertheless, some Muslim countries have called for an economic boycott of the Netherlands if the film is shown. Besides Egypt, Jordan, Iran and Pakistan have voiced criticism about it.

Pakistan unintentionally caused a brief global blackout of YouTube after its telecommunications body blocked the videosharing Web site domestically last month because it carried some of the earlier controversial cartoons.

In a related development in Copenhagen Wednesday a court decided to extend the detention of two Tunisians suspected of plotting to kill Westergaard, before deporting them as a threat to national security.

The two, whose identities have not been disclosed but who are aged 25 and 36, were arrested in a Danish police intelligence agency PET raid on Feb. 12.

The Danish justice ministry has ordered the Tunisian pair expelled without trial, which is permitted under Danish anti-terror laws introduced in 2002.

The two, who are legal residents in Denmark for more than seven years, have been held since their arrest without being informed of the charges against them and without the possibility to appear before a judge.

Frank Wenzel, the 36-year-old's lawyer, told AFP he had requested that this case of "deprivation of freedom without due process" be brought before the country's Supreme Court. He said the other Tunisian's lawyer had filed "the same requests."

"An expulsion without trial is a violation of the [European] human rights convention," he said, adding "and the same goes for the police decision to keep the motivation for the expulsion secret."