An Arab group which published a cartoon denying the Holocaust may be prosecuted in the Netherlands.

The Dutch public prosecutor’s office said the cartoon insults Jews and is an illegal form of discrimination. It plans to bring charges, one of which may be for "insulting a group and distributing an insulting image".

The cartoon was published by the Dutch arm of the Arab-European League (AEL) and implies that the Holocaust is a Jewish fabrication. It depicts two Jewish men standing near a pile of skeletons in Auschwitz. One pokes the bones and says: “I don’t think they’re Jews.” The other replies: “We have to get the six million somehow.”

The organisation said it published the cartoon in protest at the decision not to indict far-right Dutch politician Geert Wilders over a film he produced that includes caricatures of the prophet Mohammed.

The AEL said it wanted to highlight a double standard in freedom of speech rules where anti-Jewish cartoons are banned, but not anti-Muslim cartoons.

The AEL’s Abdoul Mouthalib Bouzerda, said he drew the cartoon as an act of civil disobedience.

In a statement on the AEL website he said: "Freedom of expression is only a pretext to make life bitter for Muslims ... and if (they) try to bring this hypocrisy to light, that right is denied them."

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