Europe: Muslims in Christian-Democratic parties

Europe: Muslims in Christian-Democratic parties

In the past I've been approached by journalists who were looking for information on Muslims in Europe. I generally help them out, answer questions and direct them to where they can find more information. That's usually the last I hear from them.

Philip Ebels, a Dutch journalist, was working on an article on Muslims in Christian-democratic parties. When he turned to me for information, I gladly helped him out, as I usually do.

However Philip Ebels deserves an honorary mention, for being the first to mention my blog, to quote me, and (as far as I can remember) to also get back to me with the article after it was published. It's also the first time I've seen a thorough treatment of this topic, which is usually overlooked in the discussion of Muslims in European politics. I'm therefore happy to be able to post it here (in translation).

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Many Muslims in Europe are active in Christian-democratic parties. Together they appear to work against a growing secularism. A trend?

It had never so busy by the press section. From all the corners of the wold, they came to look at the swearing in of Mahinur Özdemir as regional parliament member of Brussels last month. It was a first in Europe. Never before was there a parliament member with a headscarf.

Less attention was paid to the fact that Ms. Özdemir, a practicing Muslim, represents a (traditional) Christian-democratic party, the Humanist Democratic Center (until recently the Social Christian Party). That is not a first, on the contrary. Everywhere in Europe Muslims are devoted to Christian-democratic parties.

In the Netherlands Coşkun Çörüz has been a member of parliament for the CDA (Christian Democratic Appeal) since May 2001. Until November 2006, Nihat Eski was as well. Ayhan Tonca is a municipality councilor in Apeldoorn and would have been in parliament if not for the commotion around his possible denial of the Armenian genocide. All three are of Turkish origin.

Two other elected party member of Ms. Özdemir are Muslims. The Flemish CD&V (Christian-Democratic & Flemish), the French Union for a Popular Movement (partially formed by the former Christian Democrats), the Italian People of Freedom, and the German Christian Democratic Union of Germany have Muslims in their ranks. Many thousands are probably active as members.

It seems paradoxical - certainly at a time of increasing extremism. According to some it's simply war. We against them, and vice versa. But it's not such a paradox. Because both see a common opponent in European secularism. "In my human and social ideas, religion plays a role, and the CDA accepts that," says Çörüz in an interview in de Volksrant. "I can be in other parties as an immigrant, but my religion plays no role."

Is this a trend? Not by the CDA, according to de Volkskrant. Last month it wrote that Muslims are leaving it wholesale. After leading an active multicultural policy in the 90s, the party seemed to make an about face after 9/11. Four months later Balkenende (current Dutch PM) declared: "For me the multicultural society is not something to strive for," The storm of hardening seems to have abated, but "the enthusiasm of the 90s will never return."

Professor Jean Tillie of the University of Amsterdam also doesn't see a trend. He's linked to the Institute of Migration and Ethnic Studies. His study of voting behavior among immigrants even shows a drop of the number of Turkish-Dutch and Moroccan-Dutch CDA voters.

Eddy Bilder, parliament member for the CDA and former chairman of the orthodox Christian Course Movement CDA (Beweging Christelijke Koers CDA), confirms this. "In my close vicinity I don't see an increase in the number of believers of other faiths. On the contrary, in the parliament fraction it's gone down."

The party spokesperson of the CDA, Marcel Meyer, draws a different picture. He emphasizes the common interests of all believers. "We think that faith does reach further than the private sphere. That appeals to everybody, also Hindus, Buddhists or Jews." He sees two trends. "First I see more and more believers of other faiths, second more and more youth who become members of the CDA."

So what is it? It's difficult to find reliable data about the number of Muslim members since religious convictions are not recorded. Yet it's reasonable to expect that more Muslims will join Christian-democratic parties. First simply because there's more Muslims. Through immigration and an above-average birthrate, the Muslim population of Europe grows faster than the rest.

Moreover, the estimated 20 million Muslims in Europe - of a total population of almost 500 million - are drastically underrepresented politically. Barely thirty are in parliament and a handful in government. According to the website Euro-Islam.net, in 2004 eight of the 785 elected European parliament members were Muslims. (For 2009 data is not yet available). But as the second, third, fourth generation of immigration gets a better education and European nationality, they would also get more politically involved.

While some raise a hue-and-cry, integration quietly continues. The polder-mosque in Amsterdam which opened last year - where sermons are in Dutch and men and women can pray together - is a good example of that. "A handful of radicals aside, the majority speaks the local language properly, pays taxes and participates in the democratic process," says professor Jean Tillie.

Muslims in Europe traditionally vote for the Left. But that can also change. Now the choice of party is chiefly decided by concerns about social services or immigration policy. But as slowly but surely a middle-class forms, it can be expected that normative considerations will play a greater role.

And who other than the Christian democrats? They defend the traditional ethics and the place of faith in society. Regarding issues such as abortion, (gay) marriage, euthanasia, or stem-cell research, they don't think differently at all. "If you take a look at the values contained in the CDU party program, these are the same values that an enlightened Muslim can also find in Islam:" says Bülent Arslan, board member of the North Rhine-Westphalia CDU, "justice, freedom, the importance of family."

Madeleine van Toorenburg, integration spokesperson for the CDA says in an interview in De Pers: "it's clear that Muslims vote for us. We have many similarities through religion. Muslims are often closer to us than people who aren't religious."

The latter category has grown sharply in Europe in the last fifty years. In the past everybody was religious. Meanwhile, we're the most godless continent on Earth, after Australia. A survey of the European Commission from 2005 shows that just half the Europeans "believe in a god". In North and Central Europe a third believe, in Estonia, not more than 18%. Also youth believe significantly less. Enter a random church on a random Sunday morning and the couple of elderly widows will bear witness to this so-called post-Christian Europe.

The arrival of millions of Muslims brought faith back to the public space. Secular Europe responded allergically and had a fit. Turkey has banned all religious symbols in schools, universities and government buildings since 1997; France since 2004. At a Dutch school only the burka is banned. Since 2003, 8 of the 16 German states ban teachers from wearing the headscarf. Also during the swearing in of Ms. Özdemir there were voices of protest. Last month the last school in Antwerp announced a headscarf ban. In many countries the debate continues and one ban or another is on the agenda.

It's logical that moderate believers will know to find each other in such an environment. They disapprove of what they see as radical secularism. Van Toorenburg: "Sometimes it seems as if religion may not play any role in politics. Then I think: is it allowed, religion as an inspiration source?" More orthodox believers go a step further. "We find ourselves at a turning point," says Eddy Bilder. "Twenty years ago Christians thought to impose their ideas on society. Now it's different. Now the liberal society imposes its norms on the religious. Look for example at the position of women, or the acceptance of homosexuality."

Together we stand strong, is the idea. The CDA had even proposed once at a gathering to change the C (Christian) to S (Spiritual) or R (Religious), to unite all believers. Or in the worlds of John Allen of the National Catholic Reporter: "Beating back the wolf at the door in the form of hyper-secularization is going to require help from Muslims."

Will the believers truly unite in a growing godless world? Will Christian Democrats continue from now on as religious democrats? It won't get as bad. Esther Ben-David, the pseudonym of the moderator of the "Islam in Europe" blog, sees moderate believers getting closer more as a marriage of convenience. "The Church is not really interested in having a Muslim Europe, or a religious Europe. It's interested in having a Christian Europe and it might see Islam as a way of renewing interest in religion"

"It's more probable that Muslims will organize by their own identity," says also professor Tillie. "A party like the Dutch Muslim Party, which participated in the municipal elections last year, could do that very well." Bilder stresses that the gulf between the orthodox will not get smaller. Moderates getting closer he can somehow see happening.

Yet the trend can't be completely denied. So, for example, the Turkish AK-party, based on Islamic foundations, has been an acting member of the European People's Party, the umbrella organization of Christian democrats. the NMP (Dutch Muslim Party) also wants to be a party for Muslims and non-Muslims with a goal to "minimize the gulf between Muslims and non-Muslims and improve the (negative) image of Islam."

Moreover, there is data to back it. A recent survey of Moroccan Belgians by the King Baudouin Foundation shows that 4.3% of the first generation are members of a Christian-democratic party. Among the second generation that's 9.3%. A pan-European study has unfortunately not been conducted yet.

With an eye to the future, professor Tillie expects that Islam in the Netherlands will take a comparable place as Catholicism thirty years ago. Funny to think that the Catholics then united with the Protestants to form one party: the CDA.


Source: De Groene Amsterdammer (Dutch), Philip Ebels

Update: Fixed, NMP is the Dutch Muslim Party.

See also:
* Belgium: Who are the Belgian Moroccans?
* Brussels: First woman with headscarf in parliament
* Antwerp: Two schools ban headscarves

The Hague: Arrested youth part of known Jihadi group

The Hague: Arrested youth part of known Jihadi group

Four Dutch citizens were arrested in Kenya last week on suspicion of wanting to join the Jihad in Somalia. Apparently one of the suspects had already been caught in the past - when he disappeared with two other young men. Their families alerted the authorities they might have gone on Jihad. They were later found in Azerbaijan and claimed they had just gone shopping in Baku. At least one of the group had contact with Dutch terrorist Samir Azzouz and it was assumed they had actually been on their way to Iraq. The case led to the arrest of several suspected Jihad recruiters.

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The four "Jihadists" deported by Kenya had been alienated from their family and coreligionists. Even their radical imam repudiated them.

The municipality of the Hague had been concerned for almost a year about a group of radicalized youth, which included the four suspected "Jihadists" who had been arrested in Kenya. About twenty youth went from neighborhood to neighborhood, and from mosque to mosque, in order to get their foot in the door. Nobody, neither parents nor the authorities, could control them. They saw them radicalizing and going to the forest in order - it was feared - to get in shape for the jihad.

On July 24, the expedition of four representatives from the group, including Driss D. (21), ended in Kenya. The Moroccan from the Hague was arrested with three others by the local police when they drove in a truck towards the Somali border. They supposedly were on their way to a jihadist training camp.

The AIVD has been keeping an eye on the ethnically mixed group of youth ages 17 to 28 for quite a while. In November 2005, Driss D., then 18, was arrested in Azerbaijan together with two friends with an expired visa. The youth from the Hague said they were on vacation. Their parents, who reported them missing, feared they had actually wanted to go on Jihad.

The role of the As Soennah mosque in the Hague was notable - notorious for its controversial imam Fawaz Jneid - the mosque reported the disappearance of their young visitors. the mosque placed an internet appeal and denied entrance to the suspect "jihad recruiter".

Barely a year later the As Soenna went a step further. Though the fundamentalist mosque is itself being followed by the AIVD, they informed the service about a group of visitors who maintained an extremely militant view. In culmination imam Fawaz - who had earlier cursed Ayaan Hirsi Ali and Theo van Gogh before the film-maker was murdered - had a sermon in which he firmly rejected al Qaeda.

The group - consisting of a hard-core of 4-5 people and hangers-on - were set adrift. The municipality was desperate. Now the club did not have a spiritual leader - Fawaz was done with al-Qaeda in his sermon - they could make dangerous decisions on their own.

The alarms really went off when one of the older group member - a resident of the Hague of Turkish origin - was arrested in November 2008 with a weapon and silencer. According to the AIVD the man had been radicalized within a short period of time (at the beginning of the year he was sentenced to four months in jail due to illegal possession of firearms).

The a group possibly wanted to go on jihad training in Somalia, doesn't surprise various insiders. The youth were being pressured, persecuted and declared undesirable everywhere. The as-Soennah mosque should never have dropped them, some think. Thereby they became even more frustrated and isolated.

On Wednesday evening the four were put on a plane to Brussels. In Belgium they were arrested by request of the Dutch public prosecution for participating in a terrorist organization. Documents were found in two house searches. According to a spokesperson, investigation will show the nature of the material. Meanwhile, the public prosecution received a report from the AIVD with information about the suspects. The prosecution doesn't rule out that there would be more arrests.

The As-Soennah mosque was not available for comments yesterday. It's unclear when the suspects would be extradited by Belgium. If they resist it, the procedure can take up to a month.


Source: Volkskrant (Dutch)

See also:
* Somalia: Swedish citizen killed on Jihad, four Dutch citizens arrested
* Three Dutch recruited for Jihad
* Missing kids learned Koran by terror suspect
* Alleged Jihad recruiter denies accusations
* kids 'on vacation'
* Three Dutch Jihadists back home
* We just went shopping.. in Baku
* Netherlands: 6 arrested for jihad recruitment

Stockholm: Largest ever Muslim memorial ceremony for fire victims

Stockholm: Largest ever Muslim memorial ceremony for fire victims

Pictures from the ceremony available on Aftonbladet.


Hoda Sunyare desperately tried to save five of her seven children from a fire this past Saturday night in the Stockholm suburb of Rinkeby.  All five daughter died: Nasra (9 months), Hanna (7), Hibo (10), Najma (12) and Huda (16).  On Tuesday the children's cousin, Naimay Ahmed (13) succumbed to her injuries.  Naimy had been in Sweden for just a few months.  Her father died in the war in Somalia.  Her older brother had also sought asylum in Sweden but was rejected and was deported from the country a few hours before the fire. 

All are Muslim and according to their tradition the burial was to take place as fast as possible after death - preferably within 24 hours.  They were buried in the Muslim section of the Råcksta cemetery in Stockholm.

The father, Yuusuf Mohamoud Mohamed, and his two sons, survived.

Extra buses brought in residents of Rinkeby and Tensta to the Råcksta cemetery.  "It's so beautiful with all the people," says Faisa Ahmed, a close friend of Hoda.

Mona Shalin, head of the Social Democratic Party, and integration minister Nyamko Sambuni of the Liberal Party, came to the ceremony, together with police agents, firemen and representatives from the municipality.  "I'm here to show my solidarity," says Mona Sahlin.

The family asked that the funeral be open for everybody.  It's the biggest Muslim memorial ceremony to have ever been held in Sweden.  It's estimated that 1000-2000 people attended.  People were watching from around the cemetery.

"We belong to God and to him we return," said Dr. Eng Ben Mahmoud Rahmeh when he led the ceremony.  He first read a prayer from the mother.  The event was held in Somali, Arabic and Swedish.

Where the ceremony was over, the caskets were carried from the wooded shady area to the three graves.  Dr. Rahmeh said that the three graves are reaching out, and the siblings will share their resting place.

Faisa Ahmed was one of the women who followed the burial form the side.  When Aftonbladet spoke to her she tried to keep her tears in check, but they kept on coming.  "She had the world's sweetest kids, I'll miss them," she said.  Faisa comes from the same city in Somalia as Hoda Sunyare.  "I'll remember her as a close friend.  She was there for me, now I'll be there for her children who are still alive.  I'll always hug them we we meet."


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The government will check how they can better inform about fire-safety and to see that it reaches all groups in society.

the inquiry into the accident is ongoing, but regardless of the cause, it's clear there's a need to do more to make sure that the information gets out, said Defense Minister Sten Tolgfors (Moderates). 

The Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency (MSB) was additionally tasked to investigate how the protection against accidents law is working.

For example, will the informative material for property owners about fires in rental houses be available in several languages?  Today it's only available in Swedish.  An informative film on fire-safety which is about to be produced will be translate to several languages and distributed to associations were immigrants are active.

A special working-group will check how much immigrants are represented in fire-accidents.  Sten Tolgfors says that they've discussed swimming accidents in the past, as immigrant children are over-represented in drownings and know less about swimming.  He says it's obvious this is needed in more fields.

Sources: KVP, Aftonbladet, SVT, Expressen (Sweden)

France: Burka wearing 'marginal phenomenon', popular among converts

France: Burka wearing 'marginal phenomenon', popular among converts


French newspaper Le Monde reports on two recent reports prepared by the French police intelligence agencies for the government on the topic of the burka in France.  Both conclude that it's a very minor phenomenon, but the investigators point out that less than ten years ago, the burka and niqab, were unknown in France.  These documents, seen by Le Monde, come to inform the government, precisely at the moment when a parliamentary commission was set up on the topic.

The first report, from July 1st, is titled "Islam in France: the issues of wearing the full veil in France".  It was prepared by the SDIG.  The second study, which was published eight days later, was prepared by the DCRI.  It includes a precise tally of those wearing the full veil: 367 women in France.

This figure, which is not claimed to be comprehensive, is the result of observations through the country by the DCRI teams.  Starting from this 'snapshot' the service drew other conclusions: a majority of women identified as wearing the full veil do so voluntarily; more are under 30; 26% are French converts to Islam.  Almost all live in the major urban centers, in the Paris, PACA (Marseille), Nord (Lille) and Rhône-Alpes (Lyon) regions.  The DCRI report says that the youngest wearer of the full veil is 5 years old.

The SDGI report is 15 pages long and does not give any figures, but its conclusions are not different.  The agency estimates that it's a marginal praictice of young women.  Again, it emphasizes the importance of French converts.  The agents of the SDIG say that wearing the full veil comes from a desire to provoke society, or even her family.  It displays militancy, coming from Salafism.

The agency reports the case of fifteen young women who showed up, deliberately, at a commercial center in Marseilles.  The appearance of the group, which bought nothing, though it was at the date summer sales begin, was seen as a provocative act.

The SDIG describes the situation saying, similarly to the DCRI, that the phenomenon is focused in the major urban center in the Paris region and the Rhone valley.  Some examples have been identified in the rural department such as Haute-Vienne, Indre-et-Loire and Côte-d'Or, but also in the Eastern Pyrenees and Manche.  None have been seen in Brittany.

In contrast to the DCRI, the SDIG tried to list the positions of the various organization representing Islam in France, particularly in sensitive areas.  The fundamentalists, who 'denounce secular fundamentalism', and the rest of the Muslims, the vast majority of which reject the full veil and compare it's supports to a 'sect', according to the authors of the report.

However, many fear the the debate on the full veil will 'stigmatize Islam'.  The study concludes that even if there's a certain number of Muslim loners, most believe that wearing the full veil is from a different age.

Why two reports?  Le Monde says that both said it was their job.  Since the reform of police intelligence on July 1, 2008, the SDIG is tasked with public information on Islam in France, as well as other religions.  THe DCRI specializes in counter-terrorism and is responsible for monitoring the closed community of radical Islam.


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Responses: André Gérin, the Communist Deputy who started this debate, says the figures in the study are 'ridicoulsous'.  while Dalil Boubakeur, rector of the Paris Mosque, says the study confirms his opinion, that it's a marginal phenomenon.  People shouldn't be offended by such a small number, and there is no need for a national debate.  (full interviews on Europe1)

Sources: Le Monde, Europe1 (French)

See also: France: Proposal for inquiry commission on burkas

UK: Swine flu affecting religious activities

UK: Swine flu affecting religious activities

Fears about the spread of the H1N1 virus, also known as swine flu, are curtailing religious activities of both Christians and Muslims as they worship and express their faith, especially in Britain.


Health authorities believe that the H1N1 flu pandemic is having a greater impact on Britain than on other European countries, with at least 31 deaths from the virus, in part because Britain is an international travel hub.


(..)


The Muslim Council of Britain released guidelines to Muslims on its website, urging imams and mosque leaders to increase the awareness of the dangers of using communal towels during cleansing rituals before worship.


Murtaza Shibli, a spokesman for the group, told Ecumenical News International that the council "concurs with the advice of Saudi Health Authorities and the World Health Organization that the current pandemic strain of swine flu was more likely to be severe in certain groups of individuals — elderly, pregnant women, people with chronic disease and children."


As a precaution against spreading the H1N1 virus, Arab health ministers in Cairo on Wednesday announced plans to ban children under the age of 12, the elderly, and the chronically ill from attending the annual Hajj pilgrimage.


(more)


Source: USA Today (English)

Somalia: Swedish citizen killed on Jihad, four Dutch citizens arrested

Somalia: Swedish citizen killed on Jihad, four Dutch citizens arrested

Another young Swedish-Somali man has been killed in the conflict in Somalia. According to the Swedish Security Service, he died in the beginning of July after being recruited in Sweden by the militia Al Shabab.

It’s well known in the Somali community that the group, which may have ties to terrorist network Al Qaida, has been recruiting youth in Sweden. Al Shabab has been especially active in the Stockholm suburb of Rinkeby, where a large number of Sweden’s Somali population lives.

Kadafi Hussein, youth leader at a Rinkeby community center, told SR International that he saw four young men recruit Somalis in a public square. “They talked about jihad and what was happening in Somalia. That it was right to go there, and that they’d help you out with a plane ticket if you needed it.”

According to Malena Rembe of the Swedish Security Service, the Swedish-Somali man who died in Somalia had lived in Sweden since he was very young. This type of radicalization may pose a danger for Sweden, she says.

(more)

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Four Dutch citizens have been arrested in Kenya for "possible involvement in terrorism", the prosecution service in the Netherlands said on Wednesday.

"According to Kenyan authorities, the four were arrested on the border of Kenya and Somalia," last Friday, it said in a statement. "They are alleged to have been on their way to a jihadist training camp.

"An investigation has been launched by national police (in the Netherlands) into their possible involvement in terrorism."

An investigation has been launched by Dutch police into the activities of the four, who are expected to be sent back home, according to prosecution spokeswoman Marieke van der Molen.

She added that the Netherlands retained jurisdiction to prosecute its nationals alleged to have committed crimes abroad. Officials declined to give more details on the suspects including their genders.

While prosecutors identified them all as Dutch nationals, the Dutch foreign affairs ministry said the four included three citizens and a Moroccan with Dutch residence status.

(more)


All four are 21 years old. Three were born in Morocco, the fourth in Somalia. (NL)


Sources: SR, AFP (English)

Sweden: Municipalities reject teenage Afghan refugees

Sweden: Municipalities reject teenage Afghan refugees


A wave of teenage Afghan refugees has arrived in Malmö and other Swedish cities in recent weeks. Many remain in limbo as most Swedish municipalities refuse to accept them.


During the past week a record 64 juveniles have arrived in Sweden, according to Swedish Migration Board (Migrationsverket) figures, the Dagens Nyheter (DN) newspaper reports.


In the southern Swedish city of Malmö alone, 45 teenagers have arrived and applied for asylum over the past fortnight.


(..)


The Migration Board's head Dan Eliasson has joined the migration minister Tobias Billström in calling on municipalities' local councils to take on a greater share of the burden.


"The situation demands that more municipalities sign agreements to help the most vulnerable. The municipalities claim that they lack expertise. But these kids are not from Mars. Their problems do not differ from those that other teenagers can need help with," Dan Eliasson said to the newspaper.


The flow of teenage boys, mostly from Afghanistan and Somalia, taking their chances on treacherous journeys to Europe has been increasing recently as conflicts escalate in their home countries.



One recent arrival to Sweden is 13-year-old Mehdi Heidari, who began his journey from Afghanistan seven months ago.


"My father was murdered by the Taliban," he told DN.


"The Taliban tries to recruit all the boys to their schools. They offer food and shelter. If you don’t accept, things can get violent. They hit my fingers with a hammer."


According to the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) many of those arriving in European countries have taken up to a year to complete their journeys, living on the fringes of society in the countries they pass en route.

(more)


Source: The Local (English)

Iraq: Iranian-Swede killed in Iraqi army attack

Iraq: Iranian-Swede killed in Iraqi army attack

Al-Jazeera has a video report up about the attack.

According to Swedish news, one of the dead is Hanif Emami, who was born in Iraq but came to Sweden as a refugee when he was a child. He returned to Iraq ten years ago and settled in Camp Ashraf. His stepmother, who lives in Western Sweden, received news of his death. She says it's a disaster, and that two of her children, whom she loves, are in the camp. The situation is extremely bad and very worrying. She's been told her step-daughter, who's also in the camp, has been injured.

Iranians in Sweden are protesting the attack in front of the US embassy.



Seven members of an exiled Iranian opposition group have been killed in clashes with Iraqi police at a refugee camp over the past two days, authorities said Wednesday.


Security forces attempted to establish security control at Camp Ashraf in Iraq's Diyala province Tuesday and continued Wednesday to square off with members of the People's Mujahedeen Organization of Iran.


The camp, which has housed Iranians since the mid-1980s, has been a refuge of the People's Mujahedeen.


Regarded as a terrorist group by the United States and Iran, the group allied with Saddam Hussein in Iraq during the 1980s with the goal of toppling the Iranian regime.


Since Hussein's overthrow in 2003, Iraq has established good relations with the Iranian government.


Iran wants to see the camp shut down, and the Iraqi government has said it would close the facility after it got control of the camp from the United States this year.


(more)


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Around one hundred Swedish-Iranians have been demonstrating outside the American embassy in Stockholm following the storming of Baghdad's Camp Ashraf by Iraqi forces.


At least two policemen have died and around 420 people were wounded after Iraqi soldiers stormed the camp on Tuesday. Iran's People's Mujahedeen set up Camp Ashraf as a base to operate against the Iranian government.


The Swedish Foreign Ministry has confirmed that there are several Swedes in the camp.


One of the Stockholm demonstrators, Forough Shahriary, told Swedish Radio News that Sweden, which holds the European Union Presidency, should act, including putting pressure on the United States, as well as the Iraqi and Iranian authorities.


(more)


Sources: CNN, SR (English)

Brussels: Church-goers upset at imam speech during National Day celebration

Brussels: Church-goers upset at imam speech during National Day celebration


The speech of an imam during Belgium National Day (July 21) in a church in the Brussels suburb of  Sint-Joost-ten-Node has caused some consternation.  The imam cited suras - chapters from the Koran - about those who reject the faith, reports independent journalist Mehmet Koksal on his website.

The imam was present at the celebration by request of the community council of Sint-Joost-ten-Node.  They wanted to involve the various religious in the ceremony and so represent the diversity in the municipality.  But the quote chosen by the Turkish imam Sükrü Uymaz didn't go down well with the Catholic public of the parish.   These were mainly Catholics from the East Block, mostly from Armenia.

Among others the imam read the following passage [ed: apparently] from the al-Baqara sura (6-7):  "As to those who reject Faith, it is the same to them whether thou warn them or do not warn them; they will not believe.  Allah hath set a seal on their hearts and on their hearing, and on their eyes is a veil; great is the penalty they (incur)."


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Beatrice Meulemans, religion alderman for the SP.A (Flemish socialists) says that the imam chanted in Arabic.  She did not understand it but thought it was very beautiful.  Later alderman Ibrahim Erkan told her it was scandalous since it referred to infidels.  The audience was primarily non-Muslim but there were other Arab speakers present who confirm this.

Ibrahim Erkan (CdH - Chrisitan Democrats) thinks it's shocking.  He says that there are beautiful suras in the Koran and the imam could have chosen something else for his first speech in a church.  Erkan, of Armenian origin, is fluent in both Arabic and Turkish.

Sükrü Uymaz is the Turkish imam in Meulebeke (West Flanders), working for Diyanet, and is known for his chanting skills.  He also recites online and organizes Koran competitions.
 
Alderman Clerckx Geoffroy (MR - Liberals) accuses the council of inappropriate planning, but Meulemans says that they spent three months discussing the issue.  They chose an imam working for Diyanet since it's linked to the official Turkish Islam and so would spare them a discussion of the various denominations.

Meulmans says that she met twice with Coskun Beyazgül, head of the Belgian Diyanet, and he sent the imam, who speaks neither Flemish nor French.  She says that the public in the parish is mostly sub-Saharan and Eastern Christian, and she think it's harder for the Eastern Christians to hear about Islam since they come from counties where the relations between the Christian minority and Muslims are tense.  Additionally, they oppose the Turkish government.  She thinks that if the imam would have been Moroccan, there would have been much less of a debate.

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Koksal writes that the phrase in question is repeated 9 times in the Koran in 6 different suras, but I could not find it mentioned in the suras he cites.

Sources: HLN (Dutch), Parlamento (French)

Morocco: Children escape to Norway, father accuses Norway of abduction

Morocco: Children escape to Norway, father accuses Norway of abduction


Much as happened three and half years ago in the case of the Dutch Sarah and Ammar Hafez in Damascus, two children escaped from their father's home in Morocco and made their way to the Norwegian embassy asking for protection.  In this case, though, they stayed by the Norwegian diplomats for just one week before leaving the country and getting to Norway.  However, according to Moroccan law, the children could not leave the country without their father's permission. 

The father, Khalid Skah,  former Olympic medalist for Norway and a Norwegian citizen, is now wanted in Norway (NO) for kidnapping, threats and violence against his wife and two children.  He is accused of having threatned to kill them during a car-trip in Morocco.  Again, similarly to the Syrian case, Skah believes the embassy was involved in abducting his kids and has issued death threats against the ambassador.  One emabassy worker was attacked (NO) by unknown people.


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A child custody battle between a Moroccan former Olympic athlete and his estranged Norwegian wife has strained diplomatic ties after Morocco said Norway helped spirit the two children away from their father.


The children aged 16 and 13 spent time at the Norwegian ambassador's residence in Rabat last week before they were smuggled out of the country, Morocco's Foreign Ministry said.


Norway says it did nothing wrong, that the children were held in Morocco against their will and it had feared for their safety. The two have joint Moroccan and Norwegian nationality.


"His Majesty the King's government denounces the clear involvement of the Norwegian embassy in this illegal exit from national territory," the Moroccan foreign ministry said in a statement after it summoned the Norwegian ambassador.


It said the Vienna Convention on diplomatic activity had been flouted and accused Norway's embassy of acting in an inconsiderate manner and making contradictory statements.


Moroccan newspapers said the children were kidnapped from their father Khalid Skah, who separated from his wife Anner Cecilie Hopstock in 2006. Skah won a gold medal in the 10,000 metres at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics.


"On Sunday last week, the two Norwegian citizens approached the Norwegian embassy fearing for their lives," said a spokesman for the Norwegian government. "They were therefore accepted into the embassy to stay for a few days."


He said Hopstock came to take them back to Norway and denied that the Norwegian government had helped them leave Morocco.


"After so many months being concerned for their safety, we are happy they are back safely with their mother," he added.  Continued...


Hopstock told Norwegian media that she had travelled with Skah and their children to Morocco in 2006. She said he locked them up in separate rooms and took away their passports.


She returned to Norway in January 2007 and the children were meant to follow but Skah kept them in Morocco.


(more)


Source: Reuters (English)

Netherlands: Drop in mosque-visits

Netherlands: Drop in mosque-visits

Interesting to note, according to Statistics Netherlands the Dutch Muslim population decreased in the past two years, from 850,000 in 2006 to 825,000 in 2008.  While the number of Muslim Moroccans increased by 36,000, the number of Muslim Turks decreased by 40,000.   


--------------


About half of Dutch adults see themselves as belonging to a religious denomination or a certain life outlook. Of those 20% regularly go to religious gatherings, considerably less than in the past.

There was a sharp decrease in going to churches, mosques and religious gatherings in recent years.  The biggest drop is among Muslims.  In 2004-2008, on average 35% of Muslims went to a mosque at least once a month, compared with 47% in 1998-1999.

Among Catholics it dropped from 31% to 23%, while among protestants it church-going barely decreased.

Of the Dutch population 18 and up, 58% are religious.  Half are Catholic, 9% belong to the Dutch Reformed Church, 4% are Reformed and 6% belong to the Protestant Church in the Netherlands. 

5% of the total population are Muslim, which comes to almost 825,000 people.  About 95% of them are of non-Western origin.  Moroccans, with 296,000 Muslims, make up the largest group, followed by the Turks, with 285,000 Muslims.

Source: Statistics Netherlands (Dutch)

See also:
* Netherlands: 24% of Turks, 22% of Moroccans over 65 in 2050
* Netherlands: 5% are Muslims

Belgium: Muslim convert involved in prison escape

Belgium: Muslim convert involved in prison escape


Three criminals escaped last week from the Bruges prison, in a daring escape.  One of the accomplices involved in the escape was caught.  The second accomplice, a Muslim convert, together with the three criminals, are still at large.

For more on this story sere here and here.


-------------

The court in Bruges identified the woman who rented a helicopter under the pseudonym "Kelly Verstraeten" last Thursday and freed three criminals from the Bruges prison.  The woman is Lesley D. (24) from the Hoboken suburb of Antwerp, who converted to Islam in 2004.

The court already knew the identity of the person responsible several days after the daring helicopter escape from the Bruges prison. The young woman who rented the helicopter, coerced the pilot and fled with the escaped criminals is a 24 year old woman from Hoboken.  Lesley D. is known as a girlfriend of Mohamed Johri, the 23-year old criminal from Antwerp who escaped.  Her voice was recognized by acquaintances.  The young woman wasn't found yet and has gone into hiding.

The revelations throws new light on the escape.  Until now it was supports that it was contrived by the Mechelen criminal Ashraf Sekkaki, the most well-known of the three escapees.  The suspcion was that the operation was carried out by people from his entourage.  Now it appears to have been a cooperative partnership.  Lahoucine El Haddouchi, the hijacker who was left behind during the rescue mission, is an old acquaintance of Sekkaki. The young woman who set up the operation did it for Johri.  How the cooperative effort came to be is still a mystery.  It is also still unclear what was the role of Abdelhaq Melloul-Khayari (42), the third escapee.

Lesley D. (24) from Hoboken appeared to the helicopter pilot as a 'jovial, easy-going Flemish girl' Thursday.  Ludwig Louwagie (51) said that the black-haired girl carried out small talk.  Until her accomplice Lahoucine El Haddouchi took out a pistol, put it to the pilot's head and forced him to land inside the prison.  During the hijacking the young woman took the pilot's headphones so that he wouldn't be able to inform anyone.

Lesley D. was exposed last weekend when acquaintances recognized her voice on the tape that a helicopter company from Wettern made on July 17th, when she tried to rent a helicopter.  The owner thought her call was suspicious and had kept it.  After the hijacking he made the connection.  Lesley D. had also visited her friend Johri in jail.

Last week detectives served the house in Hoboken where D. lives with her mother.  They fond several indications that Lesley D. was indeed involved in the planning of the helicopter escape.  She appeared to have studied the plans of the prison well.

According to Het Nieuwsblad, Lesely had a childhood like other children.  She played soccer, went to the Chiro youth group, went to school in Hoboken.  When she was about 18, she suddenly changed direction. She converted to Islam.  She began to wear a headscarf and observe the strict rules of Islam.  She made no secret of her choice, which she defended openly in the papers and on TV.  In interviews she appeared as a calm young woman, who wanted to keep away from violence and aggression.  "Sometimes friends think that I don't side enough with my Muslim brothers, but I don't side for somebody who attacks Jewish youth," she said.

It is still a mystery how she became the girlfriend of the violent young robber Mohamed Johri.  The young man is the least important of the three escapees, but had already committed several robberies.  Johri, also from Hoboken, was sentenced to five years in prison in 2008 for robbing a toy story and a supermarket.  His family describes him as a 'playboy', who liked having a lot of money and lavishly scattered it.  The family does not want to speak about the escape.  The older brother already announced that Mohamed should give himself up as quickly as possible.  The mother and father of Mohamed Johri have broken by the misery that their son had caused.

It's unclear if Lesley had already been in touch with the police.  But the daring escape doesn't appear to be the work of experienced criminals.  Leaving her voice on an answering marching was a serious beginner's error. Moreover, it appears that the escape route was badly prepared.  The escaped criminals had to land faster than planned then hastily car-jack a car.  Additionally, the Bruges prosecution already announced that the criminal who was left behind, Lahoucine El Haddouchi, was quickly identified because his had his ID with him.

Lesley's family did not want to make any comment.  The Bruges prosecution also did not want to confirm or deny the news about the identification.

Source: Het Niewusblad (Dutch)

Majorca: Tensions between Muslims, police after mosque arrests

Majorca: Tensions between Muslims, police after mosque arrests

The local council decided to investigate. The police are offended and say they're fed up with the council. (ES)



THREE arrests were made at Palma’s main mosque in Calle Joan Mestre after police followed a North African suspect into the building. He was arrested together with the president of the Moslem Defence League and the mosque caretaker, both of whom had reportedly tried to prevent the police from entering the premises, saying that the sanctuary of a mosque should be respected in the same way as that of Christian churches and Jewish synagogues.


The Moslems claimed that the police had become violent and had used force in making the arrests. However, the police have a very different story to relate. They state they were following a man who had failed to stop when being flagged down on his motorcycle for a roadside check, and that he had taken refuge in the mosque.


On hearing of the incident, some 150 angry local Moslems protested outside the police station, saying that relations between the Islamic community and the security forces were now at an all-time low due to their holy site not being respected.


(more)


Source: EuroWeeklyNews (English)

Germany: University to open first Islamic theology department

Germany: University to open first Islamic theology department


The northern German state of Lower Saxony announced recently that it was establishing the country's first academic department of Islamic theology. The department, to be based at the University of Osnabrueck, will provide a place for theological research and will offer training for future imams.


The move reflects fresh efforts across Germany to address concerns about Islam that threaten to overshadow decades-old achievements in integrating Muslims into German society.


Those fears have mounted since the events of 9/11 and their aftermath stirred anxiety among many Germans over a perceived rise in radical Islam.


A perception has persisted that some immigrant-based population groups have already developed "parallel societies" that are inaccessible to the German mainstream but particularly susceptible to outside influence -- in this case, international Islamist groups.


Resulting demands for stronger efforts to integrate Germany's Muslim communities have grown louder and more frequent. Nowhere have they been more acute than in the debate about whether and how to integrate the Islamic religion into the German educational system.


Osnabrueck's new department of Islamic theology looks like one step, then, on what could be a very long road.


(more)


Source: RFE/RL (English)

Quote: The 80%

Quote: The 80%


"We estimate about 10% of our Islamic population are in a dynamic of rejection of the west and Europe, 10% are more European than the Europeans, and about 80% are in the middle, just trying to get by," said Alain Bauer, a criminologist and security adviser to President Nicolas Sarkozy. "The concern is less home-grown or imported terrorists, but states such as Iran," he said.

The Guardian, Fears of an Islamic revolt in Europe begin to fade

-------

[Like most articles on the subject, this one cherry-picks its facts to prove its point.  Europe is not facing an 'Islamic revolt', but it has serious problems with immigration, with integrating a continuous stream of third world immigrants, and with radicalization among European Muslims and converts to Islam.  The reason there have been no terror attacks in Europe has less to do with lack of will on the part of Islamic extremists than with swift action on the part of the security services.]

UK: British-Muslim fashion

UK: British-Muslim fashion

The Guardian interviews Sarah Elenany, who designs clothing for Muslim women.  She wants to make clothing relevant to Muslims, but also appealing to non-Muslims.

Towards the end of the interview, she's asked if she encountered any opposition.   She answers that she had: from Muslim men who think her designs are not modest enough.

See video interview here.  h/t euroISLAM

Netherlands: Mosques not interested in Dutch-trained imams

Netherlands: Mosques not interested in Dutch-trained imams

The cabinet wanted to stop with "imported imams", who don't speak Dutch and who bring with them radical ideas.  But the 'polder imams' who were to take their place aren't catching on.

Imams trained in the Netherlands can't count on a job right now.  Mosques have no money and no trust in the 'polder imam'.

The InHolland college, the Vrije Universiteit of Amsterdam and the University of Leiden all developed imam training at the intercession of the cabinet who wants to stop importing imams from Morocco or Turkey.  They're conservative, stand in the way of the integration of Muslims and sometimes even incite to radicalizing.  The university and college education would prepare imams who speak Dutch and who would preach differently in the mosque, bringing with them the Dutch context.

It's now recognized that poor mosques have no money for expensive, trained imams.  Additionally, the older generation of mosque visitors, who make financial contributions and who therefore decide what happens there, don't want Dutch speaking imams.

"Dutch is the language of our future.  But the conservatism of the first generation is an hindrance," says Driss El Boujoufi, of the Union of Moroccan Muslim organizations in the Netherlands (Ummon).  Additionally, there are doubts about the religious knowledge of the polder imam.  "knowledge of Arabic and of the Koran: you simply don't learn that all in four, five years," says Amsterdam youth imam Yassin Elforkani.

Other critics say that the training of the imams shouldn't have been first on the list.  Halim El Madkouri, of the Forum institute: "Islam in the Netherlands needs its own theologists, who would develop new ideas.  So that the new imam doesn't need to embellish on sources from thirteen centuries ago.  The polder imam should be able to bring out a sort of polder Islam.

Professor Maurits Berger says they are aware of this in Leiden.  He says they're now training high-quality Islamic authorities who are firmly planted in the Dutch existence.  Than, he says, in the future we won't have to bring in "Tariq Ramadans".

Source: Trouw (Dutch), h/t NRP

Den Bosch: Muslim nurse fired for not wearing short sleeves

Den Bosch: Muslim nurse fired for not wearing short sleeves

Update: Fixed the headline.


A judge dissolved the employment agreement of a nurse from Den Bosch (the Netherlands), since she refused to come to work in the Jeroen Bosch hospital with bare arms.

The 33 year old nurse has been working since 2001 in the Den Bosch hospital. In 2007 she started becoming more engrossed in her faith, according to her lawyer, Frank Vermeeren. For this reason, she started wearing long sleeves under her work uniform.

But in the department the nursing staff has to wear shirts with short sleeves. Because the woman continued to refuse to appear with bare arms, she was not welcome at her work anymore in April 2008. The nurse then lodged several objections.

The judge in Den Bosch dissolved the nurse's employment agreement starting August 1, reports Nederlands Juridisch Dagblad. The woman received compensation of 8,500 euro.


Source: Telegraaf (Dutch)

Brussels: Belgian al-Qaeda branch planned to blow up metro, stadiums

Brussels: Belgian al-Qaeda branch planned to blow up metro, stadiums

This story made the news several times this past year.  Already at the time of their arrest last December, Belgian news fingered them as an al-Qaeda cell who planned to commit an attack against the Brussels metro.  The case is now going through the courts.

See also CNN's report on Bryant Neal Vinas' testimony.


---------------

The big group of Muslim fundamentalists who were arrested last December in Brussels, were actually a Belgian branch of the international terror-network al-Qaeda, according to an American crown witness who trained with the Belgian suspects in Afghanistan, report De Tijd and Het Laatste Nieuws.

The American confirms that the Belgians went through intensive combat training in Afghanistan and had contacts with top heads of al-Qaeda.  The new crown witness is a 26 year old Muslim from New York, Bryant Neal Vinas, AKA "Bashir el Ameriki".  HE was arrested last November in Peshawar by the Pakistani security services and handed over to the Americans.

Vinas made detailed confessions to the FBI, also regarding attacks on American soldiers in Afghanistan and a planned terror attack on train traffic in New York.

The federal prosecution service confirmed to De Tijd that Vinas also made confessions regarding the case against the dozen plus members of the terrorist cell connected to the internationally notorious Muslim activist Malika El Aroud.  The examining magistrate, a federal magistrate and detectives of the Brussels Federal Judicial Police then went to the US.

The American trucker, who met the Belgians in a training camp says: They were trained in carrying out kidnappings and executions.  they wanted to attack the Brussels metro, as well as small and poorly-guarded targets, such as the European stadiums."

The Brussels court extended the arrest of four members of the cell: Malika El Aroud, the suspect suicide terrorist Hicham Beyayo, Abdulaziz Bastin and Youssef Arrisi.  The court put off a decision on the fifth suspect, Ali El Gannouti, until August 5th.

Source: HLN 1, 2, 3 (Dutch)


For more on the Belgian al-Qaeda cell and Malika el-Aroud see:
* Belgium: "Mother of al-Qaeda in Europe" saved by Belgian secret service
* Antwerp: The Jihadis of Antwerp North (1)
* Antwerp: The Jihadis of Antwerp North (2)
* Belgium: Al-Qaeda cell apprehended
* Switzerland: Islamist website owners found guilty
* France/Italy: Al-Qaeda cell investigation
* Belgium: Report on Belgian al-Qaeda
* Italy: Police charges suspected terrorists with planning France/UK attacks
* Belgium: Belgian cell discovers Islamic resistance is expensive
* Brussels: Terror attack planned
* Belgium: A female holy warrior for Al Qaeda

CR: Brno Muslims want new mosque

CR: Brno Muslims want new mosque


Muslims want to build a new mosque in Brno because the existing house shrine no longer meets their needs, Muneeb Hasan, chairman of the Brno-based Islamic foundation, told CTK Thursday, but the town is not much happy about the idea.


Hasan said the existing mosque does not have study and lecture rooms.


"It is our vision for the future," Hasan said about the considered project.


He said the Brno mosque was opened in Brno 11 years ago as the first Muslim place of prayer in the Czech Republic.


Some 120 Islam followers meet in it and their number is growing.


Hasan said he believes that a new mosque can be built in Brno without provoking the public's resistance. He said Muslims have coexisted with the other Brno inhabitants without any problem to date.


To mark the 10th anniversary of the mosque opening last year, the Muslims handed out 3653 roses as a sign of friendship. One rose was for one day in the ten years.


Brno deputy mayor Daniel Rychnovsky (Christian Democrats, KDU-CSL, spoke with CTK about the project with reservation, but he stressed the town hall has not made any official decision on it.


"I think Brno has already once shown its tolerance when it agreed with the building of the mosque in Videnska street, and that this is enough," he told CTK.


Rychnovsky said the Muslim world is by far not so open to Christianity as the West to Islam.


(more)


Source: Prague Monitor (English)

London: Danish Muslim in critical condition after "honor attack"

London: Danish Muslim in critical condition after "honor attack"


A Muslim man is in a critical condition in hospital after having acid poured down his throat in an "honour attack" for having a relationship with a married woman.
 

Police have warned the woman, also a Muslim, that her life is now in danger and are discussing how best to protect her.


The 24-year-old man was attacked with sulphuric acid and stabbed by four men. He was blinded in one eye, suffered severe injuries to his tongue and throat and suffered 50 per cent burns. He was also stabbed twice in the back and attacked with bricks leaving him with fractures to his face.
 

The Danish man, who is of Asian origin, is said to have "insulted" a woman's religious family by becoming close to her, although she has denied to officers that the relationship was sexual.


He was attacked at about 2am on July 2 in Marchant Road, Leytonstone, east London, close to a bedsit in Mayville Road he had rented a few weeks earlier to be near the woman.


(more)


Source: Telegraph (English)

UK: Ahmadiyya leader urges followers to conform to British law

UK: Ahmadiyya leader urges followers to conform to British law

As a side note, I'm always amazed when we get news from the future.

-------------


Rafiq Hayat, head of the UK branch of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, will tell more than 30,000 followers that respecting the culture of the country they live in is key to their faith.


He will also urge against sending children to Islamic schools.


His remarks will be welcomed by ministers as a sign that Muslims are shunning political separatism. They follow growing concern over the spread of sharia courts.


Mr Hayat is to make his plea at Britain's biggest annual Islamic convention near Alton, Hants, this weekend.


He will say: "In countries such as the UK, where the laws are just and freedom of faith was enjoined, Muslims have a duty to contribute to the well-being of the society.


"Muslims should not press for the establishment of an alternative authority or so-called Islamic parliament."


Source: Daily Express (English)

Germany: Kurdish-Lebanese criminal clans

Germany: Kurdish-Lebanese criminal clans

They despise everything which doesn't belong to their cultural sphere: in Berlin, Bremen and Essen, Kurdish-Lebanese clans dominate entire streets - and even threaten the police.

When Hussein E was shot to death on Jan. 30, 2009, it was a murder with a message.

A few weeks before his death, the Lebanese sought help: he felt massively threatened and afraid, a victim of an upcoming act of revenge.  And in fact, his murderer ambushed him in the Bremen suburb of Schwanewede. Hussein E. (43) died at the scene of bullet wounds, his wife was seriously injured.  The murder on the street was the first conclusion to a typical bloody confrontation between the Kurdish-Lebanese clans in Bremen.

The feud began on Good Friday 2006, when Hussein E. together with six other men stormed into a pub to settle a score with members of enemy clans.  An 18 year old was killed in the attack, three other people were seriously injured.

It was probably about stolen drugs, in 35 days of trial the Bremen court could not clear up the exact background.

The four main perpetrators were deported to Lebanon, where they were freed on bail.  Three other attackers were given prison sentences in 2007 - including Hussein E., who knew that once he was released, he would be the target of a blood vendetta.

This is because the clans administer their own justice.


--------------------


Dieter Kopetzki says these crimes are not uncommon. He heads the department for organized crime in the Bremen Police.  For years he and his colleagues of the Landeskriminalamt (national criminal investigation unit) are occupied by a very specific clientele: Members of the Kurdish-Lebanese clans dominate the cocaine market and the red-light district.  They provide a 'focal point of crime', as Kopetzki puts it - not only in Bremen, but also in Essen and particularly in Berlin.  These three cities are the German headquarter of the clans.

The chronically understaffed police are often powerless.  Agents can't infiltrate into the hermetically closed community of blood-ties.  It is already difficult to resolve the identity of suspect, as many Lebanese refugees destroy their passports when entering Germany.  Kopetzki says about Bremen that the problem won't be solved by the police.  The structures are too entrenched.

His colleagues in Essen and Berlin have similar stories about the clans.  There are stories of violence, but particularity of failed integration into German society.

In Berlin alone there are twelve Kurdish-Lebanese clans, according to the police, each with several hundred members and branches throughout Europe and the Middle East.  Most fled the civil war in their homeland in the 80s, while others took advantage of the chaos after the fall of the Berlin wall and crossed the border in 1990.  Overall, more than 200,000 people are estimated to have immigrated from Lebanon to Germany.

Asylum laws favored almost complete isolation: parents couldn't work for years, children were freed of obligatory schooling.

This produced a generation of near-illiterates, says Ralph Ghadban, a social scientist in Berlin, who himself comes from Lebanon.  These failures are now taking their toll.

Although half of the refugees now have German citizenship, most never really 'arrived' in their new home.  On the contrary, they isolate themselves more and more.  Ghadban says that by now the second generation of Lebanese immigrants constitute a danger to social peace.  From their ranks come many of the multiple-offenders, young men who already in primary school took up a criminal career.

The disastrous consequences of this development for the urban society can be seen in Berlin: in 2008 the police registered 1,200 such 'multiple offenders', 71% of which were of immigrant background, and of those the Lebanese were disproportionally represented.

Proper ghettos have emerged in the Neukölln and Wedding districts.  Here the clans rule, state regulations and laws barely apply. Disputes are judged privately - or, as in Bremen, decided with weapons.

--------------------


A worker for the Neukölln district says that the clans never charge others and there's no way to know what happens on the inside.

He wants to remain anonymous, just like the lawyer who for years defended clan members all across Germany, but is nevertheless horrified by their patriarchal structures and violence.  He says that at least his fees are being paid promptly.  A large portion of his clients live on welfare, at least officially. 

Similarly, a Lebanese native, who for years has been promoting intercultural understanding, also doesn't want his name mentioned: he's considering moving from Neukölln , as did the German and Turkish middle-class before him.  Whoever wants to remain alive, goes away.  He says his children shouldn't go to school and not meet Germans.

Back in the neighborhood welfare recipients, Arab families, often with 8-10 children, are living in cramped apartments.  The list of integration projects in Neukölln alone is now thicker than a book, but the trend towards poverty can't be stopped by language courses and youth clubs.  If this trend continues, Berlin sociologist Hartmut Häußermann warned last year, then within a decade three quarters of Neukölln resident would live in 'precarious conditions'.

Kirsten Heisig knows what this means.  As a youth court judge in the Tiergarten court she is also responsible for Neukölln.  She says that in some streets in the districts conditions are abysmal, and that it's ghetto-like.

Heisig brought trouble upon herself with such declarations, since she expressed them publicly in an interview three years ago.

Her opponents in the Berlin justice department accused her of profiling, but Heisig doesn't want to stay silent.  As youth judge she deals with children of Arab family almost every day.  The boys are left to themselves, skip school, rob gambling halls, drugstores and sex-shops.

They despise everything which doesn't belong to their cultural sphere - German above all, but also Turkish: The parents reject the legal system and this carries over to the children, says Heisig.  Help is unwanted.  Social workers report to the court that on visiting families they are threatened and spat on.


--------------------


Work has become risky for the police too.  Agents repeatedly face angry crowds, even when they just want to give parking tickets.

A recent example: when a special response unit arrested two con-men in Neukölln on May 6th, a riot started on the street: About 50 people of immigrant background threatened the agents, according to the police report.  The situation calmed down only when reinforcements were requested.

Eberhard Schönberg says that it's not a big thing in Berlin anymore since it happens almost every day.  The chairman of the GdP Police Union knows of cases in which colleagues had to barricade themselves inside shops.  He says that the state's authority is often completely lost here.

Berlin police reports rarely mention the origin of the offender for typical crimes in the community - out of fear of feeding racist resentments.  when in April four men committed a brutal attack on a supermarket, only the internal protocol stated that the perpetrators came from Lebanon and that all had been previously convicted for similar crimes.


--------------------

According to Nader Khalil the taboo causes the exact opposite result: He says it must be clearly discussed. He says that people shouldn't give the political right the opportunity to exploit it.

Khalil immigrated to Germany from Lebanon 29 years ago.  As a Muslim he sits in the Neukölln council for the CDU (Christian Democratic Union).  He says that in addition social work, significant punishments are also needed: We have to enforce liberal order.

He is supported by German-Turkish journalist and author Güner Balci.  She says that organized crime in Kurdish-Lebanese clans functions partially on the basis of archaic tribal structures.  The causes for this must be taken into account for an honest analysis.

Güner Balci knows what she's talking about: she grew up in Neukölln and was a social worker there.  But in her experience many social workers see the police as the enemy and in this way promote criminal careers instead of preventing them.  It is the most important job  of the youth service, besides offering children attractive leisure activities and setting boundaries.

But in Berlin all that is far away: according to youth judge Heisig, 20% of elementary school children don't show up for class.  Others come weeks later after visiting relatives in Lebanon.  There are rarely consequences - though the school could fine the parents.  Heisig says that this conduct calls out for setting limits.  De-escalation is seen as retreat.

Apparently national norms are enforced in the clan world only by coercion.  Berlin authorities shy away from the confrontation, particularly when it comes to children of Arab families and when resistance is expected.

--------------------

In Essen, the third metropolis of the clans, the police tried to deliberately display their presence, when several years ago agents were told at a checkpoint to 'fuck off, this is our street'.

Bremen investigator Kopetzki thinks it will have little effect: court rulings which allow for deportation of the perpetrators are more important.

The bottom line is that German social workers, police and justice officials make little impression on the clans.  On Jan. 25, 2009, several millions euro worth of jewelry were stolen from the Berlin KaDeWe department store.  The suspects included two Lebanese from Rotenburg in Lower Saxony, also members of a notorious clan who are responsible for many crimes.  The two 27 year old brothers Hassan and Abbas O. were freed soon after their arrest.  Because they are identical twins, the DNA traces found at the crime scene could not be clearly classified.  After their release in March they said they are proud of the German constitutional state and thank it.


Source: Süddeutsche Zeitung (German), h/t Politically Incorrect

Italy: Muslims to hold summer camp in quake hit region

Italy: Muslims to hold summer camp in quake hit region


Italy's largest Muslim group, UCOII, will this month hold its annual summer camp in the quake-stricken central Italian Abruzzo region to show solidarity with the earthquake victims. The camp is taking place from 25-30 July at a hotel near the picturesque Lake Bomba outside the town of Chieti.


A total 294 people were killed and another 55,000 were left homeless by the powerful earthquake that struck Abruzzo's capital city of L'Aquila and surrounding areas on 6 April. Tens of thousands of people are still living in tents and temporary accommodation.


"We will be meeting as brothers to show solidarity with the people of Abruzzo," UCOII said.


"We will live together for several days in a highly spiritual atmosphere, holding meetings, studying, recharging our batteries and living our faith," the group added.


"Our choice of Abruzzo this year is a clear sign that we share in the pain and distress of the its people and support their efforts to recover from this emergency and rebuild the cities and villages seriously damaged or destroyed by the earthquake."


UCOII's decision to hold its 40th annual summer camp in Abruzzo follows Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi's announcement last week that he planned to spend his summer holidays in Abruzzo instead of his usual stay at his luxury villa on the island of Sardinia.


(more)


Source: AKI (English)

Flanders: Attitudes towards immigrants/Muslims

Flanders: Attitudes towards immigrants/Muslims

See also: VRIND 2009 (Dutch)  h/t IIE reader.

The attitude of the Flemish towards immigrants hardly changed in recently years, according to the Flemish Regional Indicators 2009 published today.

The annual VRIND reports offers a slew of indicators on a number of domains.  This year's publications is 400 pages and 700 indicators.  They are based on data from last spring and so before the economic crisis set in in force and everything was fine.  It's expected therefore that next year's report will show a completely different picture for many indicators.

The diversity in Flanders in meanwhile on the increase.  The total number of foreigners has increased by 30% since 2002 and has gone up to 5.8% of the population, which is comparable to neighboring countries.  Counting people of foreign origin, the total comes to about 10%, with concentrations in Genk (46%), Antwerp (26%), and Ghent (16%).  The numbers show that the Flemish don't respond differently to the increasing diversity, though there are big internal differences.  Men, youth and the highly-educated are generally more tolerant.

Half of the Flemish think that the presence of immigrants enriches society and 25% think that they contribute to prosperity, and that they should be received warmly.  Their number has increased in recent years.

On the other hand, 25% remain very distrustful.  They think that immigrants shouldn't be trusted and 20% think that people who belong to ethnic minorities should marry among each other.  The distrust increases with age and is higher among those with lower education.

Moreover, 20% think that Muslim women should always be allowed to wear a headscarf everywhere.  In 2004% that was 25%.  90% of the Flemish think that foreigners should adapt to Flemish society.  Apparently the ethnic Flemish population doesn't have a stand towards non-Christian religions.  Two thirds have no clear standpoint when asked how they see members of non-Christian groups.  The case is different towards Muslims.  30% are negative to very negative and just 14% take a positive attitude.

Nobody thinks the ideal neighborhoods is one with many people of foreign origin.  But almost half of the population will live in a neighborhood where some foreigners live (though not of a different color).

Source: HLN (Dutch)


More data from the report:

The top foreigner groups in Flanders are: 31% Dutch, 8% Moroccans, 7% Italians, 6% Turks and 5% French.  In the past decade the number of Dutch increased by 6 percentage points while the number of Moroccans and Turks went down (8 and7 percentage points), mostly since they've naturalized.  65% of the foreigners in Belgium are from EU countries. 

The top groups of people of foreign origin (foreign nationality, naturalized and Belgian with a foreign mother): 21% Dutch, 15% Moroccans, 13% Turks, 7% Italians and 5% French.  Half come from EU countries.

60% think that the Moroccans and Turks they know are friendly people.  Minorities have more contact with the Flemish than vice-versa.  25% of the Turks and 20% of Moroccans speak every day to their Flemish neighbors.  60% of the Flemish never speak to people of another community. 

All three groups share a progressive attitude on social-economic issues.  On ethical issues Moroccans/Turks are quite conservative while the Flemish are quite progressive.  The Flemish give personal choice a much higher priority when it comes to abortion and euthanasia.  Regarding freedom of speech and the roles of men-women, all three groups are on the progressive side of the scale, though there are differences between them. 

More than 40% of people with foreign origin experienced discrimination last year.  66% of the Moroccans think that the police treats them harsher than the Flemish.  75% think that they're more likely to be discriminated by home owners.  85% think they're portrayed more negatively in the media than the Flemish.  Among Turks the numbers are slightly lower.

Two thirds of the population live in neighborhoods with no minorities.  Most would also keep it that way.  30% live in a neighborhood with some foreigners, 75% of them think it's the ideal neighborhood.  6% live in a neighborhood with many foreigners and 14% think it's an ideal neighborhood.

Attitudes towards immigrants/Muslims:
1. Immigrants contribute to prosperity in our country - 26.4%
2. Immigrants can't be trusted, in general - 25.4%
3. Muslim families are in general very hospitable - 44.8%
4. Immigrants come her to profit from our social security - 49.4%
5. Muslims are a threat to our culture and customs - 42.6%
6. The presence of different culture enriches our society - 51.4%
7. If the number of workplaces deceases, immigrants should be sent back to their own country - 33.5%
8. We should warmly welcome foreigners who want to live to Belgium - 25.9%
9. People who belong to ethnic minorities should marry among each other - 18.7%
10. When people would get to know Turks and Moroccan better they turn out to be friendly people, in general - 58.8%
11. Foreigners who live here should adapt to the culture and customs of our country- 87.7%
12. Muslim women and girls should be allowed to wear a headscarf at all times and everywhere - 19%

Switzerland: Muslims want local imam training

Switzerland: Muslims want local imam training

See also: Study site


Muslim communities and education authorities in Switzerland appear to agree that the country's universities could train future imams.


A study by the National Science Foundation has concluded that it is up to cantons to take the necessary steps to set up programmes, in cooperation with universities and Muslims.


Imams practising in Switzerland either leave the country for training or are imported from abroad. Researchers said that Muslim communities want "an authentic Islam and an Islam suitable for Switzerland" but are less enthusiastic about state intervention in training.


In 2008, the French government introduced a programme to sensitise Muslim leaders to the country's history customs.


Swiss researchers said the results of their study brought some surprises.


"It refutes the general prejudice that consensus is not possible among the Muslim community and of a rift between Muslims and Swiss society," said Ulrich Rudolph, professor at the Institute for Oriental Studies at Zurich University.


Rudolph said there is a widespread perception that the present situation of training mosque leaders is unsatisfactory, as imams from abroad are not familiar enough with the social and cultural background of Switzerland.


"Interviewees said teaching programmes for imams would increase the social competence of the clerics, facilitate integration and help ensure transparency as well as prevent Islamic extremism," Rudolf said at a news conference on Tuesday.


Rudolph pointed out that those interviewed considered the role of an imam in Switzerland to be similar to a Christian cleric. "He should not only be a preacher and teacher, but also an advisor in pastoral care".


(more)


Source: SwissInfo (English)

UK: Non-Muslim turn to Shariah courts

UK: Non-Muslim turn to Shariah courts


Increasing numbers of non-Muslims are turning to Sharia courts to resolve commercial disputes and other civil matters, The Times has learnt.


The Muslim Arbitration Tribunal (MAT) said that 5 per cent of its cases involved non-Muslims who were using the courts because they were less cumbersome and more informal than the English legal system.


Freed Chedie, a spokesman for Sheikh Faiz-ul-Aqtab Siqqiqi, a barrister who set up the tribunal, said: "We put weight on oral agreements, whereas the British courts do not."


In a case last month a non-Muslim Briton took his Muslim business partner to the tribunal to sort out a dispute over the profits in their car fleet company. "The non-Muslim claimed that there had been an oral agreement between the pair," said Mr Chedie. "The tribunal found that because of certain things the Muslim man did, that agreement had existed. The non-Muslim was awarded £48,000."


He said that the tribunal had adjudicated on at least 20 cases involving non-Muslims so far this year. The rulings of the tribunal are legally binding, provided that both parties agree to that condition at the beginning of any hearing.


Anti-Sharia campaigners, who claim that the Islamic system is radical and biased against women, expressed alarm at the news. Denis MacEoin, who wrote a recent report for the think-tank Civitas examining the spread of Sharia in Britain, said that MAT's claims about non-Muslim clients "raises all sorts of questions".


He added: "You really need to ask why. What advantages could that possibly have for them going to an Islamic court? Any [Sharia] court is going to be implementing aspects of a law that runs contrary to British law, because of the way it treats women for example."


Inayat Bunglawala, a spokesman for the Muslim Council of Britain, said that organisations should be free to conduct arbitration under Sharia, provided that it did not infringe British law and was a voluntary process.


(more)


Source: The Times (English)

TV: The Wanted

TV: The Wanted

NBC News launched a new show yesterday: The Wanted. The show features a team tracking down terrorists, intending to bring them to justice.

The first episodes focus on terrorists living in Europe. This week's episode (available on YouTube) focused on Mullah Krekar, who lives in Norway. The team tried, unsuccessfully, to convince Norwegian authorities to deport him to Iraq. Next week they will track down Mamoun Darkazanli in Germany and try to bring him to justice in Spain.

The show is drawing quite a lot of criticism: it's mix of journalism and drama, on the one hand, and the assumption that an American TV show can drop in by a foreign country and force its hand regarding an internal issue, on the other.

US: European imams, rabbis on interfaith tour

US: European imams, rabbis on interfaith tour


Imams and rabbis from across Europe are touring interfaith centers in the US to learn from the track record of success of their American counterparts in fostering inter-religious dialogue and Muslim-Jewish relations.


"Our success in America has given us the faith and confidence to reach out to Europe," Sayyid Mohammad Syeed, national director of interfaith and community alliances for the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA), one of three hosts for the tour, told the Washington Times on Monday, July 20.


"We need them to witness firsthand what we are doing. I have been working toward this all my life."


Twenty eight imams and rabbis from 10 European countries will be touring interfaith centers and meetings American counterparts and experts in interfaith relations.


The aim is to get ideas and instructions on breaking new ground on Muslim-Jewish relations in their societies.


They will begin their visits on Monday in New York, where they will meet Imam Mohammad Shamsi Ali, head of the Islamic Cultural Center who will talk about the experience of New York's largest mosque.


During their two days in New York, the European imams and rabbis will also meet prominent political, civic and religious leaders, and be hosted by the United Nations.


They will then travel to Washington, where they will be received by Muslim congressmen Keith Ellison and Andre Carson and two leaders of the unofficial Congressional Jewish Caucus, Jerrold Nadler and Robert Wexler.


The delegation will also visit an exhibit at the US Holocaust Museum.


In addition to ISNA, the tour is also sponsored by the World Jewish Congress (WJC) and the Foundation for Ethnic Understanding (FFEU), a national organization dedicated to strengthening ties between ethnic and religious communities in North America.


(more)


Source: Islam Online (English)

Quote: Terrorist attack in Belgium

Quote: Terrorist attack in Belgium

"Insha'Allah, it [a terror attack] will happen to them [Belgium] one day. Then they'll understand what terrorism is."

-- Fuat Tanlay, Turkish ambassador to Belgium, in an interview to Turkish newspaper Hurriyet. H/t Mehmet Koksal.

The interview came after an appeals court in Brussels postponed its ruling in the DHKP/C case. and offered defense lawyers an opportunity to prepare new defense arguments.

The seven suspected DHKP/C members were found guilty of belonging to a terrorist organization, then acquitted on appeal. The acquittal was anulled and the appeal sent to retrial.


See also:
* Brussels: "An attack is just a matter of time"

Germany: Reluctant young Turks offered courses to learn Turkish

Germany: Reluctant young Turks offered courses to learn Turkish


Authorities and nongovernmental organizations in both Turkey and Germany are working to ensure that the younger generation of Germany's Turkish immigrant community remain fluent speakers of their native language, but it is proving to be a difficult mission as the children of these families increasingly perceive Turkish skills an unnecessary tool to succeed in their education and social life.



After 50 years, Turkish immigrants living in Germany are no longer considered guest workers; instead, they constitute a community which is viewed as one which should be integrated into German society as quickly as possible. However, attempts to integrate the Turkish minority into German society are causing identity problems, especially regarding the use of the community's native language.


Vedat Fındık, a university student from a Turkish family which migrated to Germany in the 1960s, says the children of immigrants are sandwiched between two languages, namely Turkish and German. "I have to speak German with my friends at university; however, since my parents can not speak German well, I must use only Turkish at home, which is quite difficult for me. But the worst thing happens with my 10-year-old nephew. His Turkish parents speak in German at home, but when he visits us I must translate what he said to my parents [his grandparents] because he speaks very limited Turkish," said Fındık.


Nükhet Kirvan, a manager of the Munich Education and Training Platform, a voluntary civil society group working to teach Turkish as a foreign language in elementary and high schools in Munich, said the group has successfully initiated Turkish courses in three high schools in the city. Speaking to Today's Zaman in an e-mail interview, she added, "The interesting thing is that not only Turkish students, but also German students and students from other ethnic backgrounds are also interested in Turkish courses."


Asked whether the third generation of Turks use Turkish correctly and frequently in their daily lives, Kirvan replied by describing personal experiences and emphasized the role of the family. "I, as a child of a Turkish immigrant family, personally observed that my family was not interested in teaching their national values or their native language to their children as they were struggling with the hard economic conditions they faced. Consequently, I could not speak Turkish correctly. Rather, I spoke a different language mixed with Turkish and German. When I noticed that, I forced myself to speak the languages separately and correctly," she said.


In an effort to keep the younger generations of the Turkish community connected to their culture, the Turkish government has been sending Turkish teachers to Germany, Austria and the Netherlands to offer Turkish lessons to Turkish students independent of their daily schooling.


(more)


Source: Today's Zaman (English)

Finland: Problems dealing with domestic violence among immigrants

Finland: Problems dealing with domestic violence among immigrants



Organisations aimed at supporting immigrant families say there is a steady increase in the need for help. Often problems are caused or exacerbated by cultural differences and a lack of integration into Finnish society.


Domestic violence is a common problem for immigrant families, as it is for other families in Finland.


In 2005 the Men's Line phone service was set up to counsel violent immigrant men and their families, with funding from the Finnish Slot Machine Association and more recently from the city of Espoo. The director of the service, Jari Hautamäki, notes that certain practices that are part of normal family life in some cultures are seen as violence by Finnish standards.


Hautamäki adds that it can be difficult to convince men with foreign backgrounds to commit to the counselling process.


"In certain communities, many issues, including violence, are handled within the community and not discussed with outsiders," he says.


Estonian-born Reet Nurmi helped to set up the Monika organisation for immigrant women in 1998. Its purposes include developing and offering "services for immigrant women and children who are suffering from intimate relationship violence, honour related violence, forced marriages or are victims of human trafficking".


She says that systems for helping newcomers to integrate into Finnish society do not work as they should.


(more)


Source: YLE (English)

Denmark: Passport confiscation against 'reeducation' trips

Denmark: Passport confiscation against 'reeducation' trips


Muslim children sent by family members to the parents' native countries for the purpose of 're-education' may soon face having their passports confiscated, according to Berlingske Tidende newspaper.


A majority in parliament – represented by all government opposition parties and the usual government ally Danish People's Party – reportedly supports the idea of revoking passports for those would-be travellers suspected of being returned for re-education in an effort to curb the phenomenon.


The practice of sending children back to their parents' homeland for long periods, often with their mothers, is common among the more conservative Muslim populations in Europe. It is supposedly aimed at instilling proper values and respect into the young people, but often results in them developing more fundamentalist and anti-Western attitudes.


According to the Foreign Ministry, 14 cases of re-education have been documented so far this year, but experts believe the true figure is far greater.


The proposal to take away passports in these instances was put forth by the Social Liberals, who believe the move is not punishment but protection for the young people.


(more)


Source: Copenhagen Post (English)

Denmark: Home Guard bans headscarves due to political pressures

Denmark: Home Guard bans headscarves due to political pressures


Update:

Following Lou's comment below, 180 Grader reports:

Sappho.dk reports that Maria Mawla wrote the following in the book "Muslimsk-dansk dagbog: 19 dagbøger fra Muhammed-krisen" (Muslim-Danish diary: 19 diaries from the Muhammad crisis):

"Call me a fundamentalist, but I put Islam above my own life and so-called democracy, we practice in Denmark. I refuse to be 'democratized', if democracy includes persecution and oppression of people of a certain religious denomination."

In book Mawla expressed anger that the Muhammed cartoons associate Muhammed with 'oppression, terrorism, misery and death, everything that our prophet fought against and in the end died for.'

She adds that people don't take a minute to understand the frustrations of Muslims - "We are not worth a minute", and that this conflict is not about freedom of speech or democracy, as Naser Khader and his beloved Democratic Denmark make it to be, but about respect and acceptance.


She also appeared on DR's show "Oraklerne" where young Muslim women discussed various issues of the day.

-------------

Maria Mawla (27), was born in Lebanon and came to Denmark when she was four months old. She loves to break a pattern and show that Muslims woman are different than the headscarf they wear. She describes herself as a strictly practicing Muslim.

She says she dreams of being deployed at some point. She is Danish and also wants to contribute somewhere in the world. She is married to a Dane and her father-in-law is a former Home Guardsman, who was happy to hear of her decision.

The Home Guard removed their article, but it's still available on Google Archive.





The Home Guard was forced to publicly announce a ban on headscarves this weekend, after it emerged that a Muslim volunteer had carried out her training exercises wearing one.


Maria Mawla and her camouflage headscarf were featured in one of the Home Guard’s own news articles. That article has since been removed from the guard’s website.


Ulrik Kragh, MP for the Danish People’s Party and head of the Home Guard Committee, underscored that uniform guidelines have to be upheld and that Mawla will be expelled from the guard if she refuses to remove the headscarf while at the training camp.


Kragh that while he was pleased to see Muslims aking an interest in the Home Guard, headscarves are incompatible with official military approved uniforms.


‘It was an error that the woman in question was allowed to conduct her courses wearing a headscarf,’ he stated on the Home Guard website. ‘Uniform regulations apply to all guard members, primarily for security reasons.’


(more)


Source: Copenhagen Post (English)

Netherlands: Moroccans fear attacks on the way to Morocco

Netherlands: Moroccans fear attacks on the way to Morocco


Dutch Moroccan are getting into their cars in fear this year, for the far trip to family in Morocco.  More and more often they are the target of attacks, regularly with violence, along the highways in Spain.  According to the Dutch automobile association (ANWB) just last weekend the hotline in Barcelona got six reports.  This is a new phenomenon, says a spokesperson.   "In the past, mother sewed in the valuable things into her corset.  But the new generation of Moroccans is pretty affluent, drives in pretty cars and has pretty things and often a lot of money with them, because they go for a longer time.  That makes them into an attractive victim."

Helmond council member Mohammed Chahim raised the topic in a letter to the minister of foreign affairs Verhagen and state secretary Timmermans.  They were asked to raise the topic of the attacks by the officials in Spain.  The Dutch Moroccan organization SMN also sent a letter to the ministry expressing their concern.

Chahim says that these are brutal attacks where the cars are forced off the road and robbed.  "It causes us concern that people are going no a journey armed, to protect themselves."  In the tea-houses and mosques it is the talk of the day these days.

"We also want the Dutch consulate to be prepared for it," says chairman Farid Azarkan of the SMN.

Attacks on vacationers in Spain has been a problem for years.  In the past mostly 'Western' tourist with expensive cars were the victim. Now the gangs, mostly of East-European origin, also have it in for the Moroccans.  According to Chahim they often take presents and a lot of cash, for the family, or for a wedding.

Chahim: "It's sometimes ten-thousand euro.  It's savings, but sometimes also 'black' money.  That is the reason that people often don't dare make a report. Moroccans don't go to the police so quickly anyway. That has to do with shame.  Also the language problem plays a role in making a report.

Members of the Moroccan community in Eindhoven say they'll go armed this weekend or next week.  In April of this year, four Moroccan boys from Amsterdam ended up in a Spanish jail.  They shot their East-European attackers in the legs and beat them up with clubs.

Diverse stories come up from a stock-taking by the SMN.  Robbers disguised  as police agents take cars off the road.  Or cars are are hijacked while filling up.  Azarkan says that it's much more severe this year than previous years.

Source: ED (Dutch)

Netherlands: Muslim youth fear forced marriage

Netherlands: Muslim youth fear forced marriage


Many Dutch Muslim youth are afraid that they'll be married off during vacation and then left in their homeland by their parents.  This according to the increasing number of youth who find their way to social workers and hotlines.  The government is only slowly moving to help.

In secondary schools in the big cities it regularly happens that after the vacation a couple of girls or boys are missing.  In the end it turns out often that they were married off against their will during vacation and left in their parents' homeland.
 
According to social workers some Muslim youth get more anxious about being married off as the summer vacation approaches.  This can be seen also by the peak in the number of phone calls at the five hotlines of honor-related violence in the Netherlands.  Vangnet in Amsterdam got 21 calls last June, twice as many as the month before.
 
According to Morccan-Dutch parliament member Khadija Arib (Labour), the problem has been going on for a long time and is even bigger than the number of requests for help shows.  She says this is a serious problem that's been going on for years.  "The fact is that in the Netherlands every year dozens of girls don't come back from vacation.  I know for certain that hundreds and possibly thousands live in fear of being married off."

According to Arib these are youth around 18 years old. Mostly girls, but sometimes also boys.  They are of Moroccan and  Turkish, but more and more often also of Iraqi, Iranian, Pakistani and Afghani origin.  "Often they agree on site under great social pressure to a marriage, and then later regret it enormously."

The ministry of justice started a national information campaign last June, together with immigration organizations, on website such as Hyves.  Youth are made aware of the problem and encouraged to take precautionary measures. But according to Arib the Dutch government is not doing enough and should take an example from England.
 
She says England is years ahead of the Netherlands.  "They have there special team which take action if a girl is married off in the land of origin.  They make contact with the embassies, go to those countries and bring the girls back."

 
In May Rotterdam started an experiment following the British model, that according to Arib deserved to be copied nationally.  Girls who are afraid of being married off during the vacation can make a special declaration.  In this declaration they say they are not willing to be married off and give the school administration permission to call in the police if they do not come back after vacation.  This gives the Dutch government greater legal possibilities to bring back the girls.


The problem is that the Dutch law is not up to par on that point.  In contrast to England, marrying off a minor against their will is not criminal.  Khadija Arbi asks to change the law.  She says there should be more legal possibilities to deal with parents or family members who are guilty of forced marriage.

Source: RNW (Dutch)

Italy: Campaign against renting to immigrants

Italy: Campaign against renting to immigrants


An Italian mayor has launched a campaign to encourage citizens not to rent flats or sell houses to immigrants.


Cristiano Borghi who is mayor of Gerenzano in northern Italy sent an official letter on council headed paper to all people in this town urging them to keep out immigrants.


He wrote: "We want to avoid an invasion of immigrants into our town. If you love Gerenzano then you will stand by me on this. If you do not follow this advice then we risk an invasion of immigrants and it will not be safe to go out at night."


(..)


Borghi added: "I and my staff have always taken steps to keep out immigrants. That is the reason why we never built council houses with your money -- because otherwise they will be taken over by immigrants."


Source: Austrian Times (English)

Sweden: Know Prophet Day

Sweden: Know Prophet Day


Muslims in Sweden's fourth largest city are organizing on Saturday, July 18, a special day devoted to introducing the noble traits and characteristics of Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessing be upon him) and addressing media-propagated misconceptions.
"We are presenting one of the world's most famous persons," Ibrahim Blicksjo, a spokesman for the organizers, told IslamOnline.net over the phone from Uppsala.


"Why? Because we want to spread his message to the people and to give them a fair chance to get to know him."


The day, themed "Muhammad, Messenger of God", is organized by the International Association of Science and Culture, and held in Stora Torget, the biggest square at the heart of the city.

 
The first of a kind in Sweden, the event will introduce the prophet to Swedes through his life story, message and merciful teachings.


"We will have speakers who will talk about Prophet Muhammad and his message," said Blicksjo.


"We want to shed light on his qualities and how he treated others around him. And most importantly, we want to tell the people what message he came with," he explained.


"We want to show them why we love him so much, what an extraordinary person he is."


The attendees, including local organizations and media outlets, will get free literature about the inspiring life of Prophet Muhammad and how he changed the course of human history.


"We have 10,000 brochures that we will hand out and we will also have books in more than 20 languages," said Blicksjo.


"People will also have the opportunity to ask us questions and get first-hand answers."


(more)


Source: Islam Online (English)

Quote: Tearing down Muslim schools

Quote: Tearing down Muslim schools


Q: Mr. Wilders, you have suggested a ban against building new mosques and Islamic schools.  So what will happen if you gain power.  Will you totally stop, will you even tear down, mosques?

A: No, I will tear down Islamic schools, because I believe they are dangerous, fascist institutions where young children are being grown up in an ideology of hate, intolerance and violence.  And I'd rather have these young Islamic boys and girls in normal Dutch schools.  This is the best ticket to integrate in our Western societies.  I will not tear down any mosque unless they are radical, and unfortunately some of them are.  Even the Dutch minister of the interior said a few years ago that out of the 500 mosques that we approximately have in Holland, 25 to 30 are extreme.

[Dutch politician Geert Wilders interviewed by Swedish TV] - (YouTube, video is mix of Swedish, Dutch and English), h/t Mitt Sverige

Netherlands: Convenience store chain against Moroccan workers

Netherlands: Convenience store chain against Moroccan workers



Several branches of the AH (Albert Heijn) To Go convenience stores were told not to employ staff of Moroccan origin, the AD reports Thursday.


AH To Go shops are small grocery stores located in train stations throughout the Netherlands.


The words 'No Moroccans' were written in bold letters on a work schedule, and then emailed to 31 AH To Go shops on June 4, the paper says.


A second email which included the text 'Urgent! No Moroccans!' was sent the same day to branch managers who questioned the policy.


An anonymous AH To Go employee told de Telegraaf that "there are already enough young Moroccans working here."


"It could be threatening for customers," he continued.


Albert Heijn headquarters said they do not tolerate ethnic discrimination, and are "shocked" by the development.


(more)


Source: Expatica (English)

Netherlands: Labor Party should not meddle in religion

Netherlands: Labor Party should not meddle in religion


-------------------

Three local council members of Moroccan origin for the Dutch Labor Party (PvdA) are warning that secular Muslims are leaving the party since they feel it is getting too involved in religious issues.


Mohammed Mohandis

When, as a Moroccan-Dutch, you put a glass of cold beer to your lips, it happens now that an ethnic Dutch confronts you: Hey, you're Muslim, no?  You can't drink alcohol?  Or you stand in the supermarket to pay for your chicken and the cashier says seriously: that's not halal.  In the Netherlands of 2009 you're Islamisized by the non-Muslims, says Mohammed Mohandis.  And that, he says, also happens in his own party - the PvdA.

Mohandis (24) is a municipality councilor in Gouda.  He was additionally recently voted in as chairman of the Young Socialists, the PvdA's youth movement.  He was national news when after riots in Gouda he called to "keep your paws off our bus drivers".

Mohandis is asking for more secularism within the party.  "A society in which separation of Church and State is strictly enforced.  Religion is a private issue.  I myself sometimes take my inspirations from religion, but I won't trouble with it any neighbor or party-member.  Keep religion for yourself.  I speak to atheist Moroccans and secular Muslims who say: why is the PvdA meddling so with religion?  They join the D66 party because they think it's a more liberal party."

"If somebody wants to follow a religion, great.  For all denominations, from orthodox to moderate, there is room.  But as the PvdA you must put it very clearly: These are our principles.  Gay-emancipation, for example, the equality of man and woman.  And then it's up to the people if it fits them or not.

Take the example of Yman Mahrach, municipality councilor in Amsterdam, who last year said: Islam and the Koran are fixed.  You are Muslim or not.  Thus the homosexual act is forbidden, that is a law in Islam, just as you are not allowed to lie.

Mohandis says that Mahrach gave a religious rather than a social-democratic answer.  It's disturbing.  If many points of view of the PvdA are diametrically opposite to your conviction, you must ask yourself if you belong to a right party. 

Mohandis says that now the candidate lists are being put together and it is the time to ensure that people propagate and respect democratic values: standing up for man, woman, White,  Black, gay, straight, and people with or without a handicap.  He says that the PvdA wants to ensure that the lists are compiled in a politically correct manner - with both men and women, and with enough immigrants.  There are candidate committees who go into the neighborhoods in order to look for an immigrant, because they want to win over the Muslim voters and the Moroccan voters and the tea-houses and community center visitors, purely for electoral reasons.  That will cause misfortune.

Mohandis' leftist ideas don't agree with orthodox Islamic notions, and he does not agree with the idea of party head Wouter Bos and integration spokesperson in parliament for the PvdA Jeroen Dijsselbloem to support a liberal-Islamic movement.  He says it's a logical error.  The party represents social-democratic values and should not turn back on it.  You might agree more with liberal Islam, but it will also sometimes be diametrically opposite to social-democratic values.  An eventual alliance with liberal Muslims might be the result, but is not the starting point.

He was also disturbed by the discussions that well-known PvdA district mayor of Amsterdam-Slotervaart, Ahmed Marcouch, conducted with the radical Hague imam Jneid Fawaz.  The two attacked each other in articles and on TV appearances.  Marcouch wrote things such as: the Koran does not present regulations for clothing, and has no special hair-dos or a way of greeting.  Much more important is what the Koran does proscribe: fight for justice, be good citizens, go work, get an education and care for your neighbors.

Mohandis: You must not use religious, but political arguments.  Marcouch is a politician.  If you get involved in theological discussion with an imam, you're in dangerous territory.  Must you on the basis of religious arguments shake hands or not?  That is so troublesome.  You could, as a secular party, better say that you should shake hands, because men and women in the Netherlands are equal and because with that you link up with society.  You stand firm when you say where you as a district stand, or as a party, then that you say: it's in verse so and so.  Then Fawaz comes with verse so-and-so.

He names another example: "If somebody wants to leave the faith, it causes a lot of resistance.  Then as PvdA you must always stand behind the individuals.  And not behind the group.  But not because you want to promote a liberal Islam, because you're for emancipation of the individual."

"Approach people as people.  As a Gouda or Amsterdam resident.  And not in the group: we're going to speak with the mosque.  There are still too many PvdA'ers who think in groups.  Even our Integration Minister, Eberhard van der Laan.  I think highly of him, think he's one of our best people."  But when Van der Laan says that Muslims are such nice, honest people, he thinks it's pampering over the top.  You shouldn't do that.  You imply that they're not honest people.  He must simply see that they're Dutch who are born here and to whom you must also say: you are not Moroccan, I don't speak to you as a Muslim, you are Dutch.  Period.  That's it.  I am also not a Muslims spokesperson or Moroccan chairman.  I am spokesperson for the Young Socialists."



Fouad el Haji

'I once told Wouter Bos,' PvdA councillor Fouad el Haji recalls, "that I think it's a pity that secularism is not a political subject.  Nobody stands up and says: We must link the group of secular Muslims to us. I told him: I notice that people leave because they don't feel represented.  You don't only lose votes with that, but also potential members.  Highly educated, rich in ideas, engaged, involved youth,"

'Bos said: I've discussed that with Jeroen Dijsselbloem, who does integration in Parliament.  And he said: put it on paper first.  I sent him an extended mail. He answered that his secretary would make a meeting.  That was March.  I have heard nothing since.'

El Haji feels an affinity with his colleagues Mohammed Mohandis from Gouda and Mostapha el Madkouri from Almere.  But also with Haarlem councilor Moussa Aynan, who is known for his opposition to the obligatory name lists of the Moroccan government at Dutch municipalities.  The 40 year old El Haji attracted attention to himself by pointing out that recruitment practices of the Moroccan secret service in the Netherlands.

"We speak about Muslims in the Netherlands as if they are all strictly religious, orthodox.  What we speak about most often when we meet each other at party meetings is this: We apparently don't exist.  And with us thousands of others.  People whom it pains to again see a fundamentalist on TV.  Dreadful!  Because it seems as if he thus represents all Muslims in the Netherlands.  And that is far from true.  There are for example also many Muslims who don't go to the mosque, such as me."

El Haji says most Moroccan Muslims in the Netherlands are secular, but they don't advertise it.  There's no podium for them in the political landscape, and you thereby fail them.

He says that youth are leaving the party, going to D66, when they naturally belong in the PvdA.  To a lesser degree they go to GroenLinks (Greens) or SP (Socialists).  People who don't see society, government, politicians, their neighbors through religious spectacles but simply through a citizen's spectacles.   Through modern, secular spectacles, without stressing their religion."  Like himself.

He says they are the PvdA's natural allies.  "We have a multi-ethnic women's network in the PvdA.  And a gay-network.  There should be a lobby for this too."

"A party should make alliances with sympathizers.  It would be nice if our integration minister Van der Laan could support this appeal.  Time is pressing.  There are elections.  It would be nice if we get moderate types on the list.  Then you could see: we ignore nobody.



Mostapha el Madkouri


Mostapha el Madkouri (38) says that as a politican or official, you shouldn't get that into your head.  The councilor from Almere is speaking of the municipal service-counter that Utrecht opened in a mosque earlier this year.  That was decided by a PvdA official. That is undesirable.  You should not put in civil servants there, do that in the municipality buildings.  No ethnic-Dutch likes it, and rightly so.  It's a public service where he doesn't feel welcome.  While it should be accessible by everybody.

He says that people in the Netherlands are relieved that the 'pillars' are in the past and that everybody can associate with everybody.  Public services are for everyone.  He can well imagine that people say about such a service-counter: what are we dealing with?  never create services on the basis of religious beliefs.

But just as El Madkouri understands ethnic Dutch who think that a service-counter in a mosque is ridiculous, he has as much understanding for Muslims who leave the PvdA since the party speaks too harshly against Islamic orthodoxy.  "The great victory in the municipal elections of 2006 was party thanks to Muslims.  Whom I see defecting to other liberal parties such as D66."

El Madkouri says that the PvdA seems to be judging what is the best form of Islam, but they shouldn't be doing that at all.  At most they should say: All religions are welcome.  The PvdA seems less open for orthodox denominations.  You must act tough towards people who are so radical that they want to cross over to violence.  That's what we have a constitutional state for.  But besides that you should not meddle in it.

He also sees that some ultra-orthodox denominations neatly keep to the law and yet can be undesirable for a progressive party.  But you tackle a bad movement by telling your own narrative better.  And the narrative of the PvdA is not about religion, it's about schooling, work and care.  It's a big mistake to think that the PvdA should express itself about all other topics.

El Madkouri is happy with the recent publicity offensive of minister Eberhard van der Laan (integration).  He says Van der Laan is one of the PvdA's best people.  He paints an image against the unnuanced images of Wilders.  He keep to the PvdA's narrative without excluding people, and the party leadership should learn from that.

And Wouter Bos?  "He can surprise us.  I still believe in him.  Under his leadership we had a gigantic victory in the municipal elections in 2006.  His narrative was fantastic then.  The party should bring pressure to bear on him to do it again.  He must do it again."


Source: De Pers (Dutch)

Russia: Islam is important

Russia: Islam is important


Russia's religious life is a multi-confessional one and Islam is a faith with a vast influence. So President Dmitry Medvedev said during a meeting with leaders of Russian Muslim organizations.


The statement was made as Medvedev was paying a visit to the country's central Mosque in Moscow to see ongoing reconstruction work.


After being shown around the historical part of the mosque and a section under construction, Medvedev met with muftis.


Medvedev stressed the importance of Islam in the country's internal affairs.


"Russia is a multi-national and multi-confessional country. Russian Muslims have enough respect and influence. Muslim foundations are making an important contribution to promoting peace in society, providing spiritual and moral education for many people, as well as fighting extremism and xenophobia," he said before adding:


"There are 182 ethnic groups living in Russia, and 57 of them claim Islam as their main religion. This figure speaks for itself."


(more)


Source: Russia Today (English)

Denmark: Teenagers convert to Islam at home

Denmark: Teenagers convert to Islam at home

Danish newspaper Kristeligt Dagblad also reported recently (DA) that some converts to Christianity want to keep their conversion secret, as they are afraid it would be used against them or their families abroad.

------------

When Danish teenagers convert to Islam, it often happens at home, in the living room, in front of a couple of witnesses.  It is not so popular among teenagers to convert to Islam by saying the Muslim declaration of belief aloud in front of an imam.  That's at least what representatives of the Islamic community in Aarhus, Odense and Copenhagen told Kristeligt Dagblad.

The last study of Danish converts to Islam "New Muslims in Denmark" from 2007 shows that teenagers form a big portion of converts to Islam - over a third who convert to Islam are, according to the study, 19 or under. But the Muslim congregations don't meet these teenagers.

Nørrebro-imam Abdul Wahid Pedersen, who has close ties to many of the converts, participated in about 30 conversions this year in Copenhagen - and over half were men over 30.

"I meet very few teenagers who convert to Islam.  This year there have been only two.  The teenagers who choose to convert by me have typically grown up with Muslim children in the same building or have had Muslim friends their whole life," says Abdul Wahid Pedersen.

Samir El-Rifai, head of the Islamic Faith Society in Fyn also points out that most converts the congregations has been in touch with in recent years are between 19 and 25.  Only a few are younger.

"The youth read about Islam and have Muslim friends in school.  Almost all who convert are either done with studies or getting an education, and therefore are slightly older.  Today they're sincerely interested in Islam when they convert," says Samir El-Rifai.

According to Michael Aytac, responsible for converts in the Islamic Knowledge and Information Center in Aarhus, some Islam converts never come to the mosque - even after they've converted.  He says they know that some youth keep their conversion secret from their family and therefore don't come to the mosque.  They're afraid of being outcast, since the family, through the media, link Islam with something very negative.

According to the convert study from 2007, about 2100-2800 people converted to Islam since the mid 1970s and until 2005.  Most converts are women, and almost 80% are under 30.

Kate Østergaard, religion historian at Copenhagen University, who is one of the two researchers who conducted the study, says that just a quarter convert through a mosque or an imam.  She estimates that most of the teenagers convert at home, where they live.

"They use friends as witnesses - and it can easily just be in the living room, where they say the declaration of faith in Arabic with the right intention," says KateØstergaard, who estimates that some of the young converts will leave Islam again.

The other researcher in the study - anthropologist Tina G. Jensen of the National Center for Social Research, also thinks so.  According to her, many conversions which take place during adolescence are a 'one-hit wonder' by the young teenagers.

"It's not so official as when one converts by an imam.  Maybe they said the declaration of faith in a spontaneous moment and regret it the day after.  It can be less binding, when one says it at home in the living room," she says.

Source: Kristeligt Dagblad (Danish), h/t Snaphanen

Dresden: City considering honoring al-Sherbini

Dresden: City considering honoring al-Sherbini


The German city of Dresden is mulling ways to honour a pregnant Egyptian woman stabbed to death in a courtroom in the city, a killing which has sparked anger in the Muslim world, a spokesman said Tuesday.


"A meeting with town representatives and the Central Council of Muslims is set to take place next week to decide how we can honour her," Kai Schulz told AFP, adding discussions would also take place with the woman's family.


Dresden's foreign residents affairs officer Marita Schieferdecker-Adolph said: "We are thinking of naming one of the city's streets after her, but the last time we wanted to do that, it took 16 years."


(more)


Source: The Local (English)

See also:
* Germany: Prayers for murder victim
* Germany: Facts on 'hijab martyr'
* Germany: Woman sues for hijab insult, stabbed to death in court
* Quote: Is Europe Islamophobic

Sweden: Somali gov't concerned about Swedish-Somalis radicalizing

Sweden: Somali gov't concerned about Swedish-Somalis radicalizing


Some Swedish-Somali youths are taking part in that African country's civil war - now the Somali Justice Minister is visiting in order to discuss how to stop fighters travelling to Somalia from Sweden.


According to minister Abdirahman Janaqoo he is certain that almost ten people from Sweden have gone to fight in Somalia. Some are already dead, and others are prepared to fight to the death against his government.


The Justice Minister and two Somali members of parliament will meet representatives from the Swedish government and the Foreign Office and will discuss the radicalisation of the Swedish Somali community.


Source: SR (English)

See also:
* Somalia: Three Swedish citizens die in Jihad
* Sweden: Visit by spiritual leader of al-Shabaab
* Gothenburg: Xasaan Xuseen speaks at 'Islam and peace' conference
* Sweden: Jihadi recruitment attempts
* Sweden: Swedish Muslims getting al-Qaeda training
* Sweden: Fears of becoming a terrorist base
* UK: Somali-Swede arrested on terrorism charges
* Somalia: Somali-Swedes heading terror group
* Somalia: Discussions of Swedish-Somali terrorism
* Sweden: 9 citizens held abroad for terrorism

UK: Police not to charge Muslim extremists for hate crime

UK: Police not to charge Muslim extremists for hate crime


POLICE will be ordered not to charge Muslim extremists in many hate crime cases – to stop them becoming more militant.


Guidelines will tell forces to press for conviction only in cases of clear-cut criminal acts.


Officers will be advised not to proceed when evidence of lawbreaking is "borderline".


Examples of crimes to which a blind eye may be turned include incitement to religious hatred or viewing extremist material on the internet.


Last night critics warned that the move could mean Islamic radicals being give the freedom to encourage violence.


Some saw the move as a politically correct attempt to appease extremists who hate Britain.


It could even mean officers tolerating many activities of Muslim preachers of hate like the hook-handed cleric Abu Hamza.


(more)


Source: Express (English), h/t Bivouac-ID

Finland: Children sent to parents' homeland for 'de-westernization'

Finland: Children sent to parents' homeland for 'de-westernization'

In some cases Finnish youth of immigrant background were forced to go to countries the Finnish Foreign Ministry considers dangerous (YLE, SE).  That is, in some cases immigrants who came to Finland seeking refuge and claiming their lives were in danger in their homeland, are now sending their children back to avoid Finnish cultural influences.   


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Officials say they are learning of an increasing number of cases in which immigrant parents in Finland are forcibly sending teens back to their home countries to de-westernize them.


The Finnish Red Cross as well as social welfare offices say that every year dozens of parents who believe their children are becoming too westernized send their offspring back to African, Asian and Middle Eastern states.


Leena-Kaisa Åberg, head of the refugee and immigration section at the Finnish Red Cross, says school teachers rarely question the sudden absence of students with immigrant backgrounds.


(more)


Source: YLE (English)

Greece: Police demolish illegal immigrant camp

Greece: Police demolish illegal immigrant camp


Greek riot police have led an operation to demolish a makeshift camp housing illegal immigrants in the western port city of Patras.


The camp was used by migrants hoping to smuggle themselves onto ships bound for Italy and Western Europe.


Its closure is more proof of Greece's tougher stance on illegal immigration.


The camp had been a source of tension with many Greeks who regarded it as a major eyesore for themselves and for tourists arriving from Italy.


They levelled scores of cardboard and plastic hovels.


Only a makeshift mosque and a tent used by volunteer doctors were left untouched.


The camp in Patras had been in existence in some form or another for 13 years.


A few months ago, it accommodated about 1,800 people, mainly from Afghanistan.


But that number had dwindled to about 100 following large-scale arrests and also because the port authorities had made it nearly impossible to get on board ferries to Italy.


The early morning operation was described by Red Cross officials in Patras as "terrorising" the migrants.


One worker said it was designed to send a message to all illegal immigrants that they had no future in Greece.


(more)


Source: BBC (English)

Scotland: Ministers considering Sharia financing for social housing

Scotland: Ministers considering Sharia financing for social housing


Ministers are considering asking Muslim investors to help fund social housing in Scotland to ease pressure on the government's budget.


The Islamic Finance Council, which promotes the use of finance from Muslim sources in Scotland, is to meet Alex Neil, the housing minister, to discuss how Muslim wealth could be used to develop shared-ownership homes, in accordance with the principles of sharia — Islamic law.


The partnership could potentially save the Scottish government millions of pounds at a time when its budget is under unprecedented pressure because of the recession, and lead to a rise in the availability of affordable homes.


Shelter Scotland, the housing charity, claimed earlier this month that the number of council and housing-association homes for rent in Scotland has fallen to the lowest level for 50 years. There are about 599,000 socially rented properties across the country — 18% fewer than in 1998 and the lowest figure since 1959.


Under the Scottish government proposals, Muslim financiers would fund new properties with backing from the government. Under sharia, Muslims are forbidden from charging usury — or interest rates — in their financial dealings, so householders with a stake in properties would pay a rent set at a level similar to mortgage rates.


Unlike those with conventional British mortgages, householders would be largely insulated from negative equity.


(more)


Source: Times Online (English)

France: March for Mohamed

France: March for Mohamed

In an atmosphere of anger, about 300 people marched in Firminy (France) on Saturday towards the police station where Benmouna Mohamed, a young resident of the Saint-Etienne suburb was found hanged in his cell.  The march went past the building where the 21-year old lived with his parents, who had called to cancel the demonstration for fear of incidents.

The participants, including women and children, marched behind a banner saying: 'in memory of Mohamed. we want the truth'.  But soon several dozen young men in their twenties took over at the head of the procession, shouting 'Allah Akhbar', 'Allah is the only god and Mohamed is his prophet' and 'justice for Mohamed'.  The march took place without incidents.

Myrian, the victim's aunt, was in the crowd.  She doesn't believe the theory of Mohamed Benmouna's suicide and says that he isn't suicidal.  She says they're marching so as not to forget him and because they want to mourn in peace.  Therefore they should stop saying that it was suicide, it is not true.   An uncle adds that they have confidence in justice but they want to see it happen.

At about 4pm, the march ended at the Chambon-Feugerolles police station, where the tragedy which led to three nights of violence occurred.  About twenty relatives were allowed to lay two bouquets of flowers.  The hostile crowd was held at a distance by the riot police.  On Friday the prosecution opened an investigation against unknowns for manslaughter to determine whether there was a lack of supervision during Mohamed Benmouna's detention.

Source: Le Monde (French)

See also: France: Rioting after man dies in police custody

Brussels: Journalist accuses politicians of playing the ethnic card

Brussels: Journalist accuses politicians of playing the ethnic card

A president of a mosque who implicitly asks his believers to vote for Brussels Secretary of State Emir Kir (PS); a CdH candidate of Turkish origin upset of being preceded on his party list by 'three Moroccans and a Black'; communitarian election leaflets and SMS messages: independent journalist Mehmet Koksal (parlamentro.com) was never afraid to dig into topics which get people upset, and now he delivers a critical study of the campaign of immigrant candidates in to the past Brussels elections.

Koksal says that the PS (Socialist Party) and CdH (Humanist Democratic Centre) are the parties who played the ethnic card the most.  A very profitable strategy: without this patronage the PS doesn't get much in the capital.  The CdH, however, can rely not only on the Muslim vote, but also on the Black evangelicals, while the MR (Reformist Movement ) notably targets the Zionist-Jewish vote.

Shopkeepers, religious leaders and presidents of associations and sports clubs were recruited, more because they could get votes in their communities than due to shared values with the party.  Those politicians who can exercise leverage for the community got excellent electoral results, while those who mostly favored the general interest in the past parliament, were not reelected.

The backlash to the accusations was swift.  The journalist was told Friday morning that a PS candidate for the June 7 regional elections, Mohammed Errazi, is suing him for defamation.  It isn't the first time that a socialist drags the journalist to court.

In his book 'Bruxelles 2009, l'autre campagne' (Brussles 2009, the other campaign), Mehmet Koksal recounts a conversation between Mohammed Errazi and Ahmed El Khannouss (cdH) on March 25 in the presence of Joseph Amisi Yemba (PS, ex-MR), in which Errazi  complained about what the 'bastards' of his party did and that they would now continue to work for the Whites on the list.  Koksal points out that this was published on his site already on March 27, 2009, and that it was not refuted so far.  Koksal says that Mohammed Errazi wasn't voted in and that he might be suing due to this disappointment.  The case will be heard November 10.

In 2005 Emir Kir, Secretary of State for Public Cleanliness, sued Mehmet Koksal for calling him a lyer and (Armenian) genocide denier in a 2003 article.  The case was dismissed by the court.


Sources: Le Vif , RTL Info (French), h/t le blog laiciste

Copenhagen: Bus company hires minority women to curb unruliness

Copenhagen: Bus company hires minority women to curb unruliness


Putting minority women behind the wheel on the city's busiest bus route has meant fewer disruptive incidents


City bus operator Netbus is finding that 'manning' its 42 busses on the heavily travelled 5A route with minority women is helping curb unruly passenger behaviour and attracting more women to the job.


The 5A, which cuts through the middle of the ethnically diverse Nørrebro district, transports 65,000 people every day, making it northern Europe's busiest bus route.


Netbus figures show that in the first year the company operated the route there were 16 reported instances of a driver feeling threatened by passengers. But none of them involved the route's two female minority drivers.


Based on the positive results and feedback about the Brazilian and Albanian natives, Netbus has just hired a third female driver with immigrant roots, this time from Pakistan.


Peter Sieland, who teaches and instructs new bus drivers, told Berlingske Tidende newspaper he believes the women's presence has a calming effect on the route's more boisterous passengers – in particular, young men from minority ethnic groups.


'I think they respect women drivers more,' said Sieland. 'Also, women tend to drive safer, are good at resolving conflict and have an almost built-in service gene, while men often have a need to show they are captain of the bus.'


The newest of the three 5A women, Saiqa Mehmooda, used to be a teacher. As a practicing Muslim she wears a headscarf when she works, and she says young Muslim men show her more respect because of it.


'When I taught, I noticed the boys would maybe cuss and talk back to the other teachers,' she said. 'But when I scolded them they suddenly became nice and charming. I think it's the same in the bus.'


(more)


Source: Copenhagen Post (English)

Germany: Prayers for murder victim

Germany: Prayers for murder victim


Muslims across Germany prayed on Friday for a pregnant Egyptian woman murdered in Dresden last week, a killing that provoked outrage and anti-German sentiment in her home country.


Marwa al-Sherbini was stabbed at least 18 times in a courtroom in Dresden on July 1 in front of her husband and three-year-old son by a Russian-born German man who has since been charged with her murder.


With Berlin under fire for a slow reaction to the killing, the German government's integration tsar Maria Boehmer visited his bedside on Friday, a day ahead of a planned memorial ceremony outside Dresden city hall.


Dubbed the "veil murder" by Muslim groups, the killing drew thousands of mourners to her funeral on Monday in Alexandria, with Egypt's top cleric declaring her a "martyr" and demanding the maximum penalty for the attacker.


The 31-year-old's husband, geneticist Elwi Ali Okaz, is in a critical condition in hospital after also being stabbed by the assailant and shot in the leg by confused police who took him for the attacker.


Accompanied by Egypt's ambassador to Germany and the president of the German-Arab Association, Boehmer said: "There is no place for racist or religious violence in Germany."


"The German government sets great store by integration. We see variety as an opportunity ... Germany is not anti-Islam," she added.


Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, meanwhile, wrote a letter to his Egyptian counterpart Ahmed Abul Gheit expressing his condolences to the woman's family.


"We want to make sure that everyone in Germany feels safe, whatever their origin, their nationality or their religion. Racism and Islamaphobia have no place in Germany," Steinmeier said.


(more)


Source: The Local (English)

Belgium: Schools may not ban veils for teachers (2)

Belgium: Schools may not ban veils for teachers (2)


Two years ago the Council of State got to a similar decision, in what seems to me to be the same case.

-------------


Belgium's highest administrative court has overturned the sacking of a Muslim woman teacher by two schools because she wore a headscarf, national press reported Friday.


The State Council found that the two schools had abused their powers by firing the woman, who wore the headscarf in the school grounds but not in the classroom, reported the dailies De Standaard and Het Laatste Nieuws.


The woman was teaching Islam temporarily at two suburban Dutch-language schools in the capital Brussels in 2005 and 2006, but she refused to take off her headscarf after the schools' management asked her to do so.


The tribunal said the schools had not shown "that wearing the headscarf outside of the classroom would have a negative effect on the way the teacher was doing her work," the newspapers said.


(more)


Source: Expatica (English)

See also:
* Brussels: Teachers fired for wearing veil
* Belgium: Schools may not ban veils

France: Rioting after man dies in police custody

France: Rioting after man dies in police custody


Youths in the southeastern French town of Firminy burned cars and destroyed a social centre on Wednesday night as protests over the death in police custody of a young man continued for a second night.


Around 200 riot police were deployed into the early hours on Thursday, with a helicopter circling overhead as groups of young people set fire to rubbish bins before moving on to torch cars and the social centre.


The protests followed the death on Wednesday of Mohamed Benmouna, a local man arrested for attempted extortion, who fell into a coma after what police said was a suicide attempt and died several hours later.


Benmouna's family have expressed scepticism over the explanation by police who said he had used cords from a mattress to hang himself.


(more)


According to the state prosecutor in Saint-Etienne, an examination of the body revealed no traces of violence.  The mother of the 21- year old man does not believe in the suicide theory.  The Benmouna family lodged a complaint and asked people to continue to remain calm.


Sources: Reuters (English), Europe1 (French)

Denmark: Immigrant foster families last to get children

Denmark: Immigrant foster families last to get children

It seems to me this article is mixing up two different issues:
1. Should a Danish child be placed for foster care in a non-Danish family, if there are Danish families available? 
2. Are there enough immigrant foster families to care for immigrant children?  Should an immigrant child be placed in a Danish family, if there are immigrant families available? 


--------------


Foster parents of immigrant background must wait longer to get a child.  The experience of the Copenhagen municipality shows that foreign foster families are often last in line, because the case handlers are not prepared to place Danish children with families of another ethnic or religious background.

This happens despite the fact that the families were assessed and approved just like all other foster families and said they are also interested in taking Danish children and are prepared to make special consideration for the child's Danish culture.

Mette Larsen, anthropologist and project head at the Knowledge Center for Foster Care, says that these are families who speak fluent Danish and who besides being able to offer a safe environment are ready that the Danish children will not go along, for example, to the mosque, or participate in Koran education.  Yet, they wait often longer to get a child than ethnic Danish families.

She recently completed a study of ethnic foster children and families in Copenhagen.

Municipalities all over the country have had a shortage of foster families for children of an ethnic minority background in recent years.  This also means that more foreign children than Danish are placed in institutions rather than foster families.

Therefore the board of Social Services is now launching a national campaign to recruit more foster families - not least among families of foreign background.

The question is whether the Danish system is ready to accept the help of ethnic foster parents, says Mette Larsen.

She says that before we start a large-scale recruitment drive and ask people to offer their families, we should look at our own practices and consider whether we are ready to accept their help.  Otherwise we risk them coming without being given tasks.

Ethnic families want to take in foster children.  An intensive informative campaign in Copenhagen showed that the number of foster families of foreign background has grown explosively in just six years.

In 2002 only two families of foreign background were approved - today the municipality approved 22 foster families of non-Western background and 15 families of a different Western background.

Interview with older foster children shows, at the same time, that the ethnicity of foster families is not crucial for most, as long as the child has the opportunity to keep to his mother tongue.

Metter Larsen says that for years children of a different ethnic minority background were placed by ethnic Danish families, though they couldn't support the children in keeping their mother tongue and thereby having contacts with their biological family.  This isn't the case here.  Yet we hesitate when it comes to ethnic Danish children.

Source: Kristeligt Dagblad (Danish)

See also:
* Denmark: Problem finding foster families
* Copenhagen: 90% of children removed from home are immigrants

Bordeaux: Imam attacked after burka debate

Bordeaux: Imam attacked after burka debate


Mahmoud Doua was attacked this past Sunday evening, while exiting a mosque in the Bordeaux suburb of Talence (France).  After prayer two men came up to him and started speaking to him about his appearance on the "Mots croisés" show.  They accused him of not defending the Muslims, Doua says, and then he found himself on the ground.  Doua was very lightly injured and was unable to work for a day, but the attack caused a great psychological shock to the victim and the local Muslim community.

It is the first time that radical Muslims got to this point.  Paradoxically, Mahmoud Doua didn't defend a 'legalistic' and repressive position.  The part-time lecturer of anthropology of the Arab-Muslim world at the University of Bordeaux says that legislation on this issue is not educational and that if there's oppression, one should turn to the social services.  In addition there's a risk of stigmatizing the Muslim community.  Finally, the spirit of secularism (laicite) according got its founders, such as Jaures and Brians, is against a state regulating religious visibility.  The arguments he used in the debate with minister Fadela Amara and Elisabeth Badinter were considered too open by some people.

Mahmoud Doua, who teaches and preaches on Fridays on the Cenon mosque, says that these are youth he knows, who live in the same district as he does.  For them, the discussion was too Republican. 

There are estimated to be 50 Salafists in Bordeaux (department of Gironde). Tareq Oubrou, rector of the Bordeaux mosque and imam of the Association of Muslims in Gironde (AMG), says that they're young, without a point of reference, working by the dynamics of a gang.  He says what happened was serious but unfortunately predictable.  An investigation is underway to identify the two young men.  Mahmoud Doua knows their first names.  After some hesitation, he filed a complaint and the AMG is a civil party in the case.  He says he has no anger or hatred, but he wants the law to be enforced.  Islam has to integrate into the laws of the republic. 

Jawad Rhaouti, president of AMG, concludes that as Badinter said during the debate, the Muslim community is the first victim of this issue.  Sultana, Mahmoud Doua's wife is probably the person most upset.  She says, with some humor, that she wants to be a widow, but not for the burka, and adds that she is concerned.  On Friday her husband would go to the Cenon mosque to preach, as usual.

Source: Sud Ouest (French)

Belgium: Increasing Islamophobia

Belgium: Increasing Islamophobia

Jozef De Witte, director of the Center for equal opportunities and opposition to racism (CGKR), warns of growing Islamophobia: "There is a shift from a hate-discourse against foreigners in general, to a hate-discourse against Muslims or supposed Muslims.  The basis for that discourse remains racist."

In its 2008 annual report, the CGKR says that most discrimination reports that 22% of discrimination complaints are from those who feel discriminated looking for work, these include discrimination on basis of origin or belief, but also due to age or handicap.   The breakdown is: 57.3% due to race, 13.3% due to handicaps, 8.3% due to religion or life-convictions, 6% due to age and 3.9% due to health.  De Witte points out that putting together discrimination due to race and religion gives almost two thirds of the total.

All together, the CGKR got 2,207 complaints of discrimination in 2008.  In 39% of those, there was indeed discrimination, in 32.2% there was no discrimination or it couldn't be proven, in 25.3% the law did not apply and in 3.5% the discrimination was justified.

Source: HLN (Dutch)

US: Engaging with Muslim Communities in Europe

US: Engaging with Muslim Communities in Europe


The AltMuslim site features an interview with Farah Pandith.  Pandith was recently appointed Special Representative to Muslim Communities for the United States Department of State, and was the former Senior Advisor to the Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs, responsible for engaging with Muslim Communities in Europe.  


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When Farah Pandith prepared to leave her position as senior advisor on Muslim affairs covering the European region for the State Department, in advance of President Barack Obama's inauguration, she wanted to be sure the new administration had a chance to hear about the way in which America engaged with European Muslims and why. Pandith had been leading the effort in Europe on Muslim engagement, one in which the US government facilitated rather than dictated to Muslim communities. Her success was so notable that incoming Secretary of State Hillary Clinton made her an offer she couldn't refuse. Instead of departing government service as planned, where she was keen on writing a book and doing continued research on Muslims in Europe, a new position and budget was created for her - Representative to Muslim Communities - leaving Pandith with a new vehicle for expanding her thoughtful initiatives to Muslim communities outside Europe. Here, in her first official interview in her new role, Farah Pandith speaks to us about her plans for expanding her programs, the opportunities for lateral engagement between Muslim communities worldwide, and what it means to be an American Muslim representing the United States.


-----------------


Q: So you've spent a lot of the last 18 months aggressively trying to get Muslim Americans involved in this effort…


A:  I'm glad you brought that up because it's one of many things that we did. Here's what I heard when I was on the ground in Europe: How do we balance our identity? How can we be both Muslim and Western? How did American Muslims do this? And how can you not like the policies of your government and still be a proud American? What's the real story about Muslim Americans? Why should government be telling that story? It should be American Muslims themselves telling that story.


So we created a tweaked tool to help get American Muslims out there in a way that was very effective - and fun. Over the course of 14 months, we hit 15 countries in Europe where we brought teams of American Muslims – teams of four where we had an American Muslim student, an imam, and two others – to a series of countries for 3 or 4 days and do all sorts of things. Round table discussions, town halls, interfaith, going to mosques and community centres.


And so these American Muslims had an exposure across Western Europe. It was fantastic. We want to expand that kind of thing. We want to bring American expertise and understanding. What I've heard from American Muslims also was, "How can we help with the global agenda of pluralism, understanding, innovation and discourse?" And I think we need to honor that.


How can Muslim Americans help? In many ways, is the answer. Let's find ways which we can do that.


See here for the entire interview.

Netherlands: Anti-discrimination campaign

Netherlands: Anti-discrimination campaign

The Netherlands launched a new anti-discrimination campaign under the slogan: 'Must you leave yourself at home when you go out?'


The campaign features different people holding up photos of who they are expected to be.

More info on Muslimah Media Watch and C L O S E R.

Egypt: Europeans in al-Qaeda cell update

Egypt: Europeans in al-Qaeda cell update

More than a month ago I reported that Egypt arrested seven people, of whom three were European, on suspicion of belonging to an al-Qaeda cell which trained in Gaza and intended to commit terror attacks also in Europe  The Europeans were a French woman, a British man and a Belgian man.

Now Egypt updated its numbers.

A new update now speaks of five Europeans: Three Belgians, a man from France and a man from the UK.  I'm guessing the French citizen is the same one as above, and somebody got the gender wrong somewhere along the way.

Source: Israel National News (English)

See also: Egypt: French, Belgian, British citizens among al-Qaeda cell arrests

Quote: Is Europe Islamophobic

Quote: Is Europe Islamophobic


The murder and its fallout are indeed disturbing. Three days after the event, the only major western news source that carried reports of the incident was the Associated Press – leaving Egyptian bloggers to carry the torch. Crimes perpetrated by Muslims, and the sensationalist coverage of them, undeniably contributed to a creeping normalisation of language and discourse that may spill over into xenophobic incidents where Islamophobia serves as a vehicle for racism. When some moral/economic/social panic button is pushed, people are looking for someone to blame and, as the European Muslim Union noted, "Muslims are sometimes seen as a viable option".

However, it's a big step from that to the image of comprehensive, conspiratorial, institutional discrimination against Muslims in Europe that is gaining ground in Arab countries and spurring calls for the severance of diplomatic relations and boycotting of products. Muslims (me included) constantly protest that the actions of a few extremists should not be allowed to denigrate Islam and its adherents as a whole – but this is exactly what they are doing themselves in connection with Europeans and the actions of Axel W.


The irony of the outrage against Marwa al-Sherbini is that the assailant was in court appealing against a fine of 750 euros for insulting her in 2008. The authorities were clearly not complacent about the incident and it the court's earlier verdict that provoked the attacker's wrath last week. Despite Marwa's hijab and religion, she was empowered enough to bring a case against Axel W and received official support in doing so, but this has generally been overlooked amidst all the indignation in the Arab countries.


Nesrine Malik in the Guardian: Is Europe really Islamophobic?

Munich: Uighurs protest, Chinese embassy attacked

Munich: Uighurs protest, Chinese embassy attacked



Munich is apparently also the headquarters of the World Uighur Congress



As unrest in China continues after bloody weekend riots in the Xinjiang region, police in Munich are investigating an arson attack on the Chinese consulate in Munich early on Tuesday morning.


Several Molotov cocktails were thrown at the consulate by unknown perpetrators, police said.


The building's exterior sustained minimal damage, and a Chinese flag on a flagpole was burned. The city's criminal investigation department is currently searching for two unidentified men seen around 1 am near the consulate building. Local residents described hearing a car with squealing tires speed off.


(..)


Munich authorities are not sure whether there is a link between the consulate attack and ethnic violence involving Uighur Muslims in China. Erkin Zunun, a spokesman for the World Uighur Congress, said he believes the two incidents are linked.


"We don't know who threw the petrol bombs, but we do know that our people hate the Chinese authorities," he said. Zunun said he was angered by the conduct of Chinese police. According to official figures, more than 150 people have died so far in the riots in the northeast region of China where many Uighurs live.


Munich is home to a large Uighur community. A Uighur demonstration on Tuesday in the centre of the city led to conflict with a Chinese tourist group hoping to view the famous Marienplatz, according to police. Uighur protesters chanted "Chinese out" as police worked to separate the groups.


(more)


Source: The Local (English)


See also: Hague: Protesters throw stones at Chinese embassy

Malmö: Woman dies after balcony fall, honor-murder suspected

Malmö: Woman dies after balcony fall, honor-murder suspected


A 28 year old woman died after falling from her 3rd story apartment's kitchen window Sunday evening.  The woman, from Morocco, had come to Malmö (Sweden) a few days ago and moved in with her husband (32) from the Middle East.  Police say that the couple were the only ones in the apartment at the time and suspect this was an honor-murder.  They are now looking for witnesses.

The woman's husband was arrested but released several hours later (on Monday morning).   Carin Brange, police spokesperson, says that the prosecutor decided the husband can be released but that he is still being investigated.

Leif Fransson, head of the department for domestic violence by the Malmö police, says that they assume it's a serious crime and that it's based on honor issues, but that they'll see what the investigation shows.  He says that it's striking that the husband was freed so quickly, since in cases of honor murder people often try to make it look like suicide or an accident, and it would have been better to speak more with the husband.

Devin Rexvid of the Department for Social Work at Stockholm University, who researchers honor-related crimes, says it was inappropriate to release the husband and can upset the investigation.

Devin Rexvid is doing a study about the case in Malmö where a 16 year old girl died in February of last year after falling from a balcony.  The girl's brother and step-father were arrested for murder, but the investigation was later closed.  In 2007 a girl died and three were injured falling from balconies.  In all cases the police suspected a crime was committed, but none of the cases led to prosecutions.

Rexvid says that the evidence is the most difficult.  There are insufficient procedures to investigate this type of crime.  He thinks the police should use experts more often.  There are some people within the police who have the expertise and experience from similar cases and they should be called into the investigation at the preliminary stages.

Rexvid also calls for better cooperation between the police, schools and the social services, saying the latter two should be more engaged when it comes to young girls who have fallen from balconies.

Pernilla Ouis, assistant lecturer at Malmö University and an expert in honor oppression, says that women falling from balconies exists as a murder method in the Middle East.  She can't comment about the current case, but confirms that honor killings are probably much more common than we believe.

She says that most often people make it to look like suicide or an accident, and that we've seen this both in Sweden and abroad.   Pernilla Ouis calls for stricter laws, such as collective punishment of the type found in Denmark, in order to deal with honor violence.  She says the perpetrator is seldom alone, many time a whole family can be involved.

After several incidents which caught the public attention, such as the murders of Pela Atroshi and Fadime Sahindal, Swedish police focused on addressing honor violence.  Police agents were trained to quickly recognize honor-related crimes and to better respond to its victims. 

Pernilla Ouis says that they still know too little about this type of crime and that more efforts are needed.  She thinks it's sad that honor-oppression only gets attention when it leads to murder, since it's something that goes on all the time and affects many young women.

Sources: KVP, SVT, SvD, Sydsvenskan (Swedish)

See also:
* Italy: Pakistani girl (15) jumps out of balcony to escape arranged marriage
* Sweden: Gov't funds fight against honor crimes
* Sweden: Falling off a balcony

Germany: Facts on 'hijab martyr'

Germany: Facts on 'hijab martyr'

Last Wednesday, July 1st, Egyptian woman Marwa (el-)Sherbini was stabbed to death in a German court by German Russian Alex W.  Alex W. was in court after Sherbini sued him for insulting her.  In August 2008, W's child was swinging on a swing.  Sherbini asked W. if her child could use the swing and he turned on her, calling her "Islamist", "terrorist" and "bitch".  She sued him.  W. stabbed Sherbini when she came to court to testify against him.

For more on this story see here, here and here.

The incident is causing a lot of anger in Egypt, where people are taking to the streets in protest. 

There's a lot of stories going on about this incident, and so I'll try to put things straight.   

1. The issue of press coverage (or lack thereof) is drawing a lot of attention and accusations.  German news media reported about this story extensively already on Thursday.  However, they didn't mention the (full) name of the Egyptian woman who was killed, just as the attacker is only named Alex W.  The first English language news therefore used the Egyptian press for this information.

My experience is that news items tend to 'percolate' from local news through to the worldwide mass media.  In many cases I rush to translate a story, but within a few days it appears all over the English language news.  I reported about this story Saturday, based on an Expatica news report.  Since every news item about it now also mentions the accusations about the media not reporting it, it's hard to gauge how much this would have drawn attention otherwise.

2. Though Marwa is now called the "hijab martyr" in Egypt, her attacker never said anything about the hijab.  She was attacked for being Muslim. 

3. Marwa sued Alex for insulting her, not for physically attacking her.

4. Her husband, who rushed to intervene, was shot by a security guard.  There are accusations that the guard just assumed the non-German was the attacker, however the incident is still being investigated.  It is as likely that the guard, who was trying to stop a murderer, just missed. 

5. As far as I know, the attacker is being charged with murder, and not, as some have reported 'manslaughter'.

6. This is the second time this year that a murder took place in a German court. 

7. So far this year, one hijab-wearing Muslim girl was killed in Germany for not being Muslim enough.  Another 20-year old was killed for not being a virgin.  This follows up on dozens of cases in the past few years were Muslim women were killed by their Muslim family for not being Muslim enough.  As far as I know Sherbini's case is the first one in Germany (possibly in  Europe), where a woman is killed for being Muslim.

8. The murderer, Alex W., came to Germany from Russia in 2006.  He's as German as Sherbini.

9. Alex W. did not belong to any racist groups. 

10. Given the demonstrations against Germans in Egypt, maybe the German embassy should put out an advisory?  

11. Why are Sherbini's family calling for revenge against a man being held by the German authorities?

Sherbini's family have called for revenge following the deadly knife attack on Wednesday.


"If she was just stabbed once, I would have said this is a mad man, but the number of times she and her husband were stabbed reflects the extent of racism this man had in him," Tarek Sherbini, the victim's brother, said.


"Here in Egypt, we believe in 'an eye for an eye'. The least we expect is the death penalty for the murderer."  [ed: Germany does not have the death penalty]

----

"We will avenge her killing," her brother Tarek el-Sherbini told The Associated Press by telephone from the mosque where prayers were being recited in front of his sister's coffin. "In the West, they don't recognize us. There is racism."


12. While Egyptians are upset at one murder in Germany, they might want to remember that German tourists have been attacked, injured, killed and abducted in Egypt, as recently as this year.

Italy: Muslims support MP against threats

Italy: Muslims support MP against threats


Italian MP and Muslim women's rights activist Souad Sbai has received the support of hundreds of moderate Moroccan immigrant and Muslim groups after she received threats in an Internet video message by an alleged Al-Qaeda supporter in Italy.


"In the last few months, we have seen an outbreak of aggressive, extremist and terroristic Islam which is particularly dangerous," said a statement signed by numerous immigrant and Muslim associations in support of Sbai.


"To try and hit the PdL (People of Freedom) MP is the equivalent of hitting all of us. That is why today we want to express our solidarity, but make it known that we are all Souad Sbai."


(..)


"The intention to intimidate, slander and put in danger Souad Sbai, represents an evident attack against all of us, Muslim moderates, who have been for years working for the assertion of a culture of dialogue," said the statement.


(more)


Source: AKI (English)

See also:
* Italy: Moroccan MP faces death threats
* Italy: Muslim MP in court against death 'fatwa'

Hague: Protesters throw stones at Chinese embassy

Hague: Protesters throw stones at Chinese embassy

Update: Videos of the protesters here and here.

26 of the protesters are still in jail, after being caught on camera committing vandalism. 116 were fined for disturbing the public order and freed home.

--------------


A demonstration of Uighurs in the Hague by the Chinese embassy got out of hand. The police arrested 142 demonstrators and brought them to police headquarters. According to a spokesperson the demonstrators refused to follow instructions and threw stones at the building.

The demonstrators were protesting the police of China in East-Turkestan. East Turkestan is the name used by Uighurs for the Xinjiang region in the People's Republic of China.

According to the police the agents standing in front of the embassy fence just avoided the stones. The agents then prevented the demonstrators from climbing over the fence. The police then decided to arrest all demonstrators on suspicion of violence in public. A police spokesperson said in explanation that a line was crossed by throwing stones. One demonstrator was injures.

The arrested demonstrators were evacuated with police and city vehicles. They were still at the station Monday evening. The police formed a team of 25 investigators to investigate who did what and whether there are any people who have not done anything.

In total about 100 agents were called in. Most demonstrators did not resist the evacuation of the area around the embassy. These included men and women, young and old. The Haaglanden police received help from the riot police. Police dogs and horses were also used.

Source: Telegraaf (Dutch)

Gothenburg: Xasaan Xuseen speaks at 'Islam and peace' conference

Gothenburg: Xasaan Xuseen speaks at 'Islam and peace' conference

I'll update if I find out which organization is running the conference.

------------


Several thousand Muslims from the Nordic countries and also further away attended a conference in the the Bellevue Mosque in Gothenburg, Sweden, which started Thursday.  The theme of the conference is peace and Islam.

However, as GP reported Thursday and Friday, some of Gothenburg's Swedish-Somalis were concerned that a leader of the Somali rebel group al-Shabaab was invited to speak at the mosque.

GP's reporter were not allowed into the conference Sunday afternoon.

The spokesperson for the conference confirms that Xasaan Xuseen was there  as planned.

Mahamud Hassan told GP outside the mosque that Xuseen has been there for the past few days, but that there are no problems.  Asked what he spoke about, Mahmud Hassan answered: About peace and Islam.

In an interview on Friday Mahamud Hassan denied Xasaan Xuseen has any connection to al-Shabaab.  He said that they did not understand that Xassan Xuseen was linked to a terrorist group and that they wouldn't have invited him otherwise.  He said it's completely incomprehensible.

Colleague Ahmed Warfa agreed: "It's baseless.  He never spoke of violence.  He isn't here to collect money". 

Both spokespeople stressed that Xasaan Xuseen wasn't invited by the ISC in Bellevue, but rather by a Nordic conference council, with several representatives from each of the Nordic countries except Island, where ISC has a vote.

Warfa says that the conference council thinks he's a good speaker and he's coming to speak about Islam and peace, the topic of this year's conference.

The two spokespeople says that his supposed links to al-Shabaab is just smears by political opponents, who know that such accusations will get attention in the West.

Mahamud Hassan says that Swedes should be aware that they're not about to bring in radical speakers.


Sources: GP 1, 2 (Swedish), h/t Muslimska Friskolan


See also: Sweden: Visit by spiritual leader of al-Shabaab

Finland: Immigrant mothers miss out on language classes

Finland: Immigrant mothers miss out on language classes



More women immigrants in Finland miss out on language instruction than do their male counterparts. In particular, the opportunities for women who have moved here to join their immigrant husbands to get language instruction are poor.


Lutfeara Hossain moved to Finland from Bangladesh to be with her husband who studied and later started working here. This mother of two, who has been in the country for nearly twenty years, in the spring took part in only her second Finnish language course.


"That time, I don't feel that I'm staying here, my husband was a student, and when he would be finished, I would go back. But in the meantime, my children have grown up, so I found that it's difficult to go back," explains Lutfeara Hossain.


Lutfeara's story is not uncommon. Although the largest group of immigrants are family members, programmes for integration into Finnish society, including language instruction, are only for unemployed job-seekers or those receiving income supports. So, housewives supported by their spouses are just not seen in language classrooms.


Often, it is also a matter of values. For many immigrant women it is a cultural issue. Egëzona Kllokoqi, at student at the University of Rovaniemi who has researched integration among Albanian women, says that home care, child raising and maintaining their own culture may have priority for immigrant mothers.


"If a woman is from a patriarchal culture, the role of assigned to women, that is of raising children, is important to maintain. A woman may feel that she has failed if her children speak Finnish at home and are not adept at their parents' culture. They may think that they are bad mothers," notes Kllokoqi.


Some immigrant mothers may spend a decade or more living here, but isolated from Finnish society. However, a mother's willingness to acclimatize to a new homeland can be crucial for the future of her children.


(more)


Source: YLE (English)

Russia: 'Moderate Islam' org to open branch

Russia: 'Moderate Islam' org to open branch


The Kuwaiti organization, Moderate Islam, is to open a branch in Russia to explain the canons of true, traditional Islam, Ismail Berdiyev, chairman of the Coordinating Center for the North Caucasus Muslims, told the press.


"The Kuwaiti Religion Minister said at a recent meeting of the Muslim leaders of countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States, that the Emir of Kuwait has set up an organization, Moderate Islam, which professes traditional Islam and advocates moderation in everything without going into extremes," Berdiyev said.


"We have agreed with the federal government that this organization will set up a branch here in Russia and explain the true values of Islam. When people learn what the traditional and true religion is about, they will not be so easily entangled into a sect," he said.


The emergence of such an organization is long overdue, said Karachayevo-Cherkessia's presidential commissioner for religious organizations Yevgeny Kratov.


"Many engage in destructive activities under the cover of traditional Islam. The emergence of a serious organization, that would consistently distinguish between the traditional religion and others, is definitely important and promising for our society. I hope Berdiyev's visit will yield serious positive results in the near future," Kratov said.


Source: Interfax (English)

Greece: 93% against further immigration

Greece: 93% against further immigration


Nine in 10 Greeks believe that the country has reached saturation as concerns the number of immigrants it can accept, according to a new opinion poll carried out for Sunday's Kathimerini.


The Public Issue survey found that 93 percent of the public questioned believes that Greece cannot accept any more migrants, while only 4 percent believes that there is still room for more.


Immigration has come to the forefront as an issue on the political landscape over the last few months, particularly after the government's defeat in the European Parliament elections last month, and it appears that an increasing proportion of voters are concerned about the influx of migrants.



(..)


Three in four voters believe that there is a direct correlation between immigration and rising crime in Greece, while 39 percent believes that migrants are taking jobs from Greeks. Almost half of the respondents feel that migrants are employed in positions in which Greeks would not be interested. Overall, 62 percent believe that immigration is "probably" doing harm to Greece. This is up from 54 percent last year. In contrast, 19 percent believe that it is "probably" doing good, down from 23 percent in 2008.


(more)


Source: Kathimerini (English)

Denmark: 65% fear race-riots

Denmark: 65% fear race-riots


Almost two-thirds of Danes fear that the current conflict between the Hells Angels and immigrant gangs will develop into a regular racial conflict, according to a Megafon poll for Politiken and TV2.


Some 65 percent of those asked say that they fear that the gang war will develop into race riots, street warfare and general unrest.


Police authorities, however, do not believe that race riots are a likely scenario in Denmark.


"But I can understand that people are worried. I would urge people to look at what is actually happening, rather than listening to the rhetoric from the various parties to the conflict. There is no basis for the concern that people are showing - the conflict between the gangs and bikers is about crime and not race," says Kim Klever of the National Investigation Centre (NEC).


The opinion poll comes a week after the Hells Angels published its 'Jackal Manifesto' - a controversial statement in which the group says that the ongoing gang war is not about criminal markets but rather a defence against 'a mentality found predominantly among certain young people with an immigant background - called 'jackals' by HAMC.'


(more)


Source: Politiken (English)


See also: Denmark: Gangsters vs. The Jackals

Germany: US published travel alert following bar-brawl

Germany: US published travel alert following bar-brawl

Apparently Obama's new approach to the Muslim world had not yet trickled down to the US emabassy in Germany.

-------


The United States Embassy in Germany published a travel advisory for all American citizens, warning them to refrain from travel and going out in the Garmisch-Partenkirchen region during the July 4th weekend (see here).  According to the advisory, it is "based on reports that a German group may seek retaliation against U.S. citizens in Garmisch-Partenkirchen for a recent incident at a local nightclub involving U.S. service members and German nationals".

According to the Münchner Merkur, the security advisory follows a relatively harmless incident in front of the Garmischer club.  According to the police, on June 27 a civilian employee of the US Army and person born in Turkey were involved in a fight in front of the club.  Several people were injured as a result.  The German-Turk involved threatened the American that he'll come back with friends in the next few days and take revenge.

A spokesperson for the Rosenheim police said that after interrogating the accused, they only saw it as threats.  There is no concrete evidence that a German group would retaliate, as the US advisory says, though the police say they're not taking things lightly and will keep watch.

Germany security forces saw this as regular bar-fight, but the US authorities completely misunderstood it.  According to the Germans, before they could prevent it, the Americans already pressed the alarm button.  Because it was just before the American Independence Day and because it's near the George C. Marshall Center, the US services were alerted.

The German security services stress that this incident was unnecessarily made into a regional incident.

This advisory is not related to the warning by the German federal government that Islamist extremists might commit terror attacks before the federal elections.

Source: Münchner Merkur 1, 2 (German), h/t Editrix (English)

Serbia: Islamists sentenced for terror training, planning attacks

Serbia: Islamists sentenced for terror training, planning attacks


A special Belgrade court on Friday sentenced 11 members of a radical Islamic Wahabi movement to more than 60 years in prison after they were found guilty of planning terrorist activities and illegal weapons possession.


Fifteen members of the group were arrested in Serbia's southern Sandzak region, which has a substantial Muslim population.


The trial started in January last year but 12 members of the group refused to engage defence lawyers, saying they did not recognise a Serbian court and could be "judged only by Allah".


Leader of the group, Senad Ramovic, was sentenced to 13 years, while another ten members received from six months to eight years in jail. Three members of the group were acquitted and one is being tried separately.


The group operated a terrorist training camp on Ninaja mountain near Sandzak's regional centre of Novi Pazar and police discovered a large cache of weapons, explosives and ammunition at the camp.


Police also discovered maps and photos of buildings they were planning to blow up including the US embassy in Belgrade.


According to the indictment, the group also planned to kill the head of Islamic Community in Sandzak Muamer Zukorlic, after accusing him of being a CIA agent.


(more)


Source: AKI (English)

Egypt: 20 suspected French Islamists deported

Egypt: 20 suspected French Islamists deported



Egypt has expelled about 20 suspected French Islamists over the past month, an Egyptian security official told AFP on Saturday.


"About 20 French Muslims detained in the investigation into the Cairo attack in February that cost the life of a French girl have been expelled, little by little," the official said, declining to be named.


He said that no charges were filed against the French nationals but they were considered religious extremists and undesirable in Egypt.


A French consular official told AFP "a certain number of French nationals were detained along with other foreigners" after the attack and "asked to leave Egypt at their own expense and without any legal case" against them.


(more)

Source: Expatica (English)

Amsterdam: Children learning abroad to lose residence status

Amsterdam: Children learning abroad to lose residence status


According to Amsterdam alderman Lodewijk Asscher (Education, Labor Party), 1187 Amsterdam children went to school abroad in the 2008/2008 school year, mostly in elementary school age.  According to a survey, half of the parent lack koran education and their own culture in the Netherlands.  Many parents also send their children to school abroad if they don't get child benefits or free medical insurance any more.

These include about 300 children in Egypt, 160 in Morocco and 128 in Ghana.  Amsterdam intends to discourage this since these children stay abroad for years.  When they come back they speak poor Dutch and have trouble connecting to Dutch society.  According to a municipality study, half of these children are not able to read or write Dutch.

According to the compulsory education law, children may go to school abroad under certain conditions.  This regulation is meant for children who live in the Netherlands, but go to school in Belgium or Germany.

Asscher says that in the past exemptions were easy to get for children who don't live in the Netherlands, but that is over.  The second time parents ask for an exemption for their children to go abroad to study for eight months, the municipality will understand from that that the children are no longer residents of the Netherlands. 

The municipal registration department (DPG) will then start an investigation.  DPG and the municipality, together with social security, will also investigate the 1,187 children.

Sources: NRC, AT5, Telegraaf (Dutch)

Germany: Woman sues for hijab insult, stabbed to death in court

Germany: Woman sues for hijab insult, stabbed to death in court


A woman stabbed to death in a German court was an Egyptian who had sued her attacker after he insulted her for wearing the Islamic headscarf, Egyptian newspapers reported on Friday.


Marwa al-Sherbini, 32, who was killed in a court in Dresden on Wednesday, was the wife of Egyptian academic Elwi Ali Okaz who was also hurt in the incident and is now in critical condition in hospital, the state-owned Al-Akhbar reported.


The attacker stabbed Sherbini "shortly before she was to give evidence in an appeal lodged by the man against a conviction for insulting her over wearing the hijab," said the state-owned Egyptian Gazette.


The 28-year-old man, identified only as Axel W., was overpowered and was being investigated for manslaughter over the killing of the woman, a spokesman for the Dresden prosecutor's office said.


(more)


Source: Expatica (English)

Sweden: Islamist radicalization, a problem denied

Sweden: Islamist radicalization, a problem denied



The cause and effects of Islamist radicalisation, specifically in Swedish suburbs, as for example Tensta in Stockholm and Rosengård in Malmö, was the main subject of a panel discussion arranged by the Swedish National Defence Collage during the Political Week.


The three participants in the panel were Maajid Nawaz, with a history in radical Islamist groups, but now is Director of Quilliam Foundation, a British counter-extremism think tank, and Dr. Magnus Ranstorp from the Swedish National Defence College, who earlier this year published a much noticed report about radical Islamism in Rosengård, and finally Nalin Pekgul, President of the Social Democrats Women's organization.


The discussion to a large degree dealt with the strong reactions that Dr. Ranstorp's report received in the Swedish public debate. Many of Sweden's islamologist questioned the report and many scholars were critical about the way the study had been carried out.


"I am very sad with the debate following the publication of the report. There were to much focus on the form and not the content", Magnus Ranstorp said.


He described how he wrote the report, commissioned by the Government and the Ministry of Integration, having been living abroad for a long time and knowing nothing about the situation in Rosengård, writing from a blank table and without preconceptions.


The report was simply what officials and local authorities working in Rosengård were saying. They saw a growing radicalization among the youths living in a social problematic suburb, with crowded housing, extremely high unemployment and many young people exposed to a cultural clash, resulting in shattered identities.


Nalin Pekgul confirmed that this was in line also with her own experience from Tensta, a suburb in Stockholm. Some people of the community acts like 'thought police', trying to control the behavior of other residents. Especially women and young girls are exposed and it is not uncommon that young girls are forced to marry with men they do not know.


"Some said in the interviews that they had lived a freer life in their home country", Magnus Ranstorp said, and Nalin Pekgul once again agreed.


"I was able to wear shorter dresses in Kurdistan than I can do in Tensta. Men from the garage mosques harass you and say bad things about me to my children", Pekgul said.


A couple of years ago she received much media coverage when she publicly said she wanted to move away from Tensta, when her children told her that other people said they were not Muslim, since she didn't carry a veil. She however never moved away since she got so much positive response from others living in Tensta.


Maajid Nawaz told about his background as a radical Islamist from the age of 16. How he quickly climbed in the ranks and started exporting the organisation to other countries, for example Pakistan, Denmark and Egypt. It was first when he served a five years prison sentence in Egypt that he started to question his ideological beliefs. Today he is totally devoted to fight against radical Islamism and other forms of political extremism.


Nawaz described Islamists as a tiny minority among Muslims and stressed that Islamism is not the same thing as Islam.


"We where chased away from the mosques when we were trying to recruit", Nawaz said.


He thinks it is important to make a difference between religious extremist and the political extremism of Islamists. One could be a very orthodox and conservative Muslim, without wanting to kill people who do not share the same beliefs, and one could be a radical Islamist without being especially pious or having much knowledge about what the Koran says.


He took himself as an example, when he was an active Islamist, no one could for example tell that he was an Islamist by how he was dressed. An many of the Islamist in Europe is often very well educated.


"Islamism is a European and modern ideology that is more about extremism and fascism than devotion to religion", Nawaz explained and took as an example how the group he was involved in started in Britain and exported itself to traditional Muslim countries as Pakistan, Malaysia and Egypt.


All in the panel agreed that there was something true about that.


"People think it comes from abroad, it is the other way around. People in Sweden can't understand that it is easier for Islamist to recruit in segregated areas in out cities than in Muslim countries", Nalin Pekgul said.


"Some of the Islamist I have meet in Great Britain have been more frightening than those I have encountered in the Middle East", Magnus Ranstorp said.


(more)


Source: Stockholm News (English)


See also:
* Malmö: Rosengård 'growing more radical'
* Malmö: Rosengård report under attack
* Sweden: Visit by spiritual leader of al-Shabaab

Sweden: Visit by spiritual leader of al-Shabaab

Sweden: Visit by spiritual leader of al-Shabaab


See also Wikipedia for more on the Bellevue Mosque.

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The invitation of a man identified as the spiritual leader of al-Shabab by the Bellevue Mosque is disturbing many of Gothenburg's Swedish-Somalis.  He brainwashes youth, says Yoonis Hassan.

Yoonis Hassan works as a supervisor at the Gothenburg tram.  He is one of several Swedish-Somalis of varying ages who gathered in central Gothenburg to commemorate Somalian independence.  Some of them regularly visit the mosque in Bellevue.

The youth in the room speak carefully about Xasaan Xuseen, who was invited to speak in a conference starting at the mosque today (Thursday).  The older people have more to say: Yoonis Hassan says that he's calling Somalis home to wage war.  People are concerned about this this, especially parents.

Most of those GP spoke with wanted to remain anonymous.  Everybody is basically convinced that Xasaan Xuseen came to Gothenburg for two reasons: to collect money for al-Shabaab and recruit youth for the group's activities.

"He has supporters in Sweden," says Yoonis Hassan.

Xasaan Xuseen's visit splits Gothenburg's Swedish-Somalis, of those GP spoke with, about 80-90% don't want anything to do with him.

"There are many who are extremely concerned.  It's a controversial person, and we don't want him in Sweden.  It sends the wrong messages to society that he's here," says a middle-aged man with short hair and a mustache.

"I'm Somali.  I am a parent, and I'm Muslim.  What he does has nothing to do with Islam," says another.


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The information about Xasaan Xuseen's arrival in Gothenburg have reached the Security Police (Säpo), confirms Malena Rembe, chief analyst for the organization's counter-terrorism unit.

Malena Rembe says that it's not particularly common for people to come to Sweden from other countries and spread this type of violent ideology to the open public.  Rembe says that based on the information they have, they understand this is an extremely controversial person, particularly among Somali-Swedes.

How is Säpo dealing with the situation?  Rembe can't comment on that. 

According to the information, Xasaan Xuseen is Somali but lives in Kenya.  The concerns that he's in Sweden to recruit youth and to collect funds might be well-founded.  According to Säpo  there are currently a dozen Swedish citizens in Somalia, active in al-Shabab's activities in the domestic chaos in the country.

Malena Rembe says that al-Shabaab as an organization is probably not active in Sweden, but there are people who travel from Sweden to participate in al-Shabab's terror activities.

She stresses that Säpo does not officially label organizations as terrorist organizations, but says there's little doubt of how al-Shabaab's activities should be categorized.  A large part of their work-methods are suicide attacks where civilians are killed.  According to Swedish law, it would be defined as terrorism.

Al-Shabaab is a young movement.  They have admittedly collected money in the UK as well as in Scandinavia, but only operated in Somalia.    "But they threatened to attack neighboring countries and Western targets in the region, as well as individuals in Denmark and Sweden," says Malena Rembe.

Magnus Ranstorp of the Swedish National Defence College, says that al-Shabaab is not labeled a terrorist organization by the UN or EU (the organization is on the US terrorism list).  He says there's been warnings that the battle in Somalia might be internationalized, but we are not yet at that stage.

What does it mean when a spiritual leader for the movement comes to speak in Sweden?  Magnus Ranstorp says that it will be no exaggeration to say that if they're here, it means something special.

Representatives for the Islamic Sunni Center Faith-Society GP spoke with did not want to comment on the invitation of Xasaan Xuseen.

Sources: GP 1, 2 (Swedish), h/t Muslimska Friskolan

See also: Somalia: Three Swedish citizens die in Jihad

Sweden: EU must not dictate an Islamic dress code

Sweden: EU must not dictate an Islamic dress code


Sweden assumes the presidency of the European Union pushing for adoption of common rules on immigration but tiptoeing around the discussion about banning burqas and other Islamic garments.


The 27-nation EU must not dictate an Islamic dress code, Swedish Justice Minister Beatrice Ask said Tuesday, adding that "the European Union is a union of freedom."


The influx of Muslim immigrants has stirred debate in European countries about the wearing of headscarves and full-body robes in public places.


French President Nicolas Sarkozy two weeks ago told lawmakers that the all-covering burqa would not be welcome in France.


Ask said Sweden will not raise that debate to an EU level, because it has "enough to do" in its six-month stint in charge of the presidency, starting Wednesday.


"I don't think it is a question for the European Union," she told reporters in Stockholm. "I think we leave that for local politicians."


A key priority for Sweden, which has been a top European destination for refugees from Iraq and Somalia, is to get broad support from its partners for common immigration and asylum rules. Those issues remain largely national responsibilities as governments are wary of ceding authority in justice matters to the EU.


(more)


Source: Taiwan News (English)

Antwerp: Protests against headscarf ban, call to snitch on burka-wearers

Antwerp: Protests against headscarf ban, call to snitch on burka-wearers


On Sunday about 120 Muslims protested in Antwerp against the headscarf ban in the Royal Athenaeums of Antwerp and Hoboken.  They carried signs saying: "Everybody free, except us," "Democracy, not discrimination" and "You are the oppressors, not us."  (See pictures here)  They demanded to rescind the headscarf ban by the two schools.

Parent Mina Cheeba said in a speech that the representatives of the parents in the school council haven't heard of any social pressure to wear a headscarf and that if there are actual complaints, then they would like to take a look at them so they could come to a solution together.

Cheeba says the decision to ban the headscarf was made without asking the parents' advice.  The school regulations shouldn't be changed autonomously, but by consultation with the parents. 

Several students also expressed their displeasure.  One said that they're supposedly under pressure to wear a headscarf, but that's nonsense.  They are not feather-brains who accept everything without thinking.

Ayoub Aazzouti said that he's fed up of the men being portrayed as machos who force girls to wear headscarves, because it's not like that. "For us boys and girls are equal.  We have a lot of respect for them and they are intelligent enough to decide on their own if they wear a headscarf or not.  Stop using us as an excuse."


On Monday about 40 Muslim women showed up to protest in front of the Royal Athenaeum of Hoboken.  Some of the slogans included: 'distressed by the lack of understanding', 'why a ban on my character', and 'lies in order to discriminate'.

One of the students spoke: "We have a right to study and to a headscarf.  It's not one or the other, we have a right to both."

Principal Chris Weyers spoke as well, telling she understands them, but that they did not protest when all other schools closed their doors to them.  She said they should speak to the government so that they'll be welcome everywhere again.  The principal says it's wrong that girls depend in their choice of studies on whether a school allows a headscarf or not.

Meanwhile, Belgian newspaper De Morgen reports that four students of the Antwerp school have turned to a lawyer to see if they have grounds for a legal process.


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Earlier this week senior Vlaams Belang member Filip Dewinter called upon VB activists to report women in burka or niqab to the police.  Though wearing clothes covering the entire body is banned by the Antwerp police, almost nothing is now done against offenders.  People who break the law are booked only on their second violation.

VB politician Marie-Rose Morel writes on her blog that she doesn't like snitching and that such an initiative leaves her with a bad taste in her mouth.  Morel explains that she has questions about the 'radicalization of Islam in some major cities", but she doubts whether informing on women in burkas will 'avert this threat'.    The question is whether Flanders needs and finds it useful to have 'big brothers' behind the curtains, waiting to call the informant hot-line.

She says the real problem isn't that the police doesn't know the people wear a burka, but that they don't do anything to those they catch.  In order to deal with this situation Morel says you need more than an informant hot-line.  She suggests a 'brave justice minister' and a police corps that has more elbow room to deal with obstinate offenders.  That would at least be useful.


Source: HLN 1, 2, 3, 4 (Dutch)

See also:
* Antwerp: Two schools ban headscarves
* Antwerp: Following headscarf ban, imam calls to boycott Flemish schools
* Antwerp: Imam backs down from boycott call

Denmark: Gangsters vs. The Jackals

Denmark: Gangsters vs. The Jackals

A few days ago the Danish Hell's Angels club published what they call the "Jackal Manifesto 2008" (Available on their site in Danish, and translated to English by Gates of Vienna)

In this manifesto they come out against the attitude of certain immigrant youth, which they call 'jackals', specifically aiming at Muslims. This manifesto was published in the wake of an escalating gang-war between Hell's Angels and their offshoot AK81 and immigrant gangs in the Danish city of Odense (see Copenhagen Post)


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As per the GoV translation:


Most jackals are of immigrant background, but a few "mad dogs" of Danish ethnicity are around. They have either grown up in the wrong spot, or have been attracted by the respect (read: fear) that jackals, and to a high degree police and the press, have created around the jackal way of life.


The vast majority of jackals are Muslims, at least when at home at their fathers or speaking with the priest. They pretend to believe in God and that they follow the Quran. They often invoke Allah — in particular when in prison or when alone and scared. In daily life, however, they often fail to follow the true way of the faith: They smoke hashish, take drugs, commit crime, drink alcohol, fight, swear, commit adultery, and they most certainly cannot be blamed for NOT engaging in usury! The only rules from their faith that most follow are to abstain from eating pork and to attempt to observe Ramadan as well as they can. Apart from that, God and the guidelines of faith are merely consolation used when away from the security of the pack. This kind of faith and consolation are used by the leaders of the packs as a tool for power and to keep the crowd together when there is no other kind of sense behind their desires.


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This paragraph has been used to show that HA are anti-Muslim, but it seems to me that they're complaining that the immigrant gang members are not Muslim enough (they drink, they commit adultery, they engage in usury etc.). For some reason nobody asks them about it. Nor did I see anybody wonder why they decided to publish this manifesto, supposedly from 2008, only now.


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In any case, the Copenhagen Post reports on the manifesto:


(..)


Experts said the manifesto, coupled with Nielsen's recent appearance on a popular morning television show, were attempts to sway the popular mood towards Hells Angels by creating an 'us versus them' mentality.


Associate professor of sociology Michael Hviid Jacobsen of Aalborg University said that the move is part of a campaign to recruit young people to Hells Angels.


'To that end, he makes himself, the other Hells Angels and the Danish public the victims when he talks about us having been subjected to violence by immigrants,' said Jacobsen.


'At the same time it's very dangerous to play the ethnic card because it will act as a red flag to the immigrant groups. The risk of the conflict escalating is probable,' explained the sociologist.


Chief superintendent Per Larsen of the Copenhagen Police said Nielsen was not helping the situation.


'Jønke is fanning the flame, but in our view at the moment this is not about an ethnic conflict,' said Larsen.


(more)


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I partially summarized the DPP (Danish People's Party) response:


A political manifesto from the gangster group Hell's Angels (HA), comparing certain young Muslims to jackals is an attempt to divert the public's attention from the war on drugs, but the manifesto paints a picture of immigrant brutes that many Danes can regonize, says Peter Skaarup, the Danish People's Party justice spokesperson.

Skaarup says there's no doubt that what was written by HA, comes close to what many Danes see of un-integrated immigrant brutes when they meet and hear them. There are some who live in a parallel society and who aren't receptive to common sense. He says that the point where he thinks people are losing it is when they say that because of that they can liquidate all the immigrants.

Asked if it's a fair description to say that the manifesto resonates by some Danes, Skaarup says that it's of course generalizing and narrow-minded, but that many Danes do see themselves in some of what it describes. There are some who don't listen to general common sense and act very un-Danish.

Though Hell's Angels distance themselves from racism, the group writes in the so-called 'jackal manifest' very derogatorily of a group of youth who don't 'respenct kindness', 'hate Danes' and 'terrorize' children and youth. Accordnig to the gangsters, they are often of Arab or Muslim background.

"They despise Danish girls, their independence and liberalism, except if they do what they're asked to do, go with them or convert to Islam," according to the manifesto.

Peter Skaarup thinks the gangsters have changed strategy. Throughout the gang war they denied there's a war. Now they're acting as if there is a war, and it's an attempt to deflect attention, from the police's side too, since the police are coming down on them.


Source: TV2 (Danish)

Quote: Scottish Muslims and nationalism

Quote: Scottish Muslims and nationalism


AltMuslim: With regards to the situations of Muslims elsewhere in Europe, do you see a model forming around the Scottish experience that Muslims in other European countries can learn from?


A: I think there is definitely something to that. I've been arguing that we need to look at our responsibility to talk about that far more. I've had the opportunity over the last year or so to travel pretty extensively across Europe and the United States. And in my opinion, I don't think there's a better place in the world to be a Muslim than in Scotland.


I was somewhat surprised with the US… I expected the situation in America to be pretty bad. I actually found that people are very comfortable with their identity and very positive about it, in fact.


Whereas across Europe… I was part of a 20-strong delegation, a State Department visit to America last year with young Muslim leaders drawn from across Europe. And the Scottish contingent, it's fair to say, were the only ones that identified themselves with the country of birth, whereas everyone else sees themselves as Turkish or Pakistani or wherever else. I think it's something we take for granted here.


The research done by Stirling and St. Andrews universities, which found that young Muslims in Scotland had a higher degree of nationalism and Scottish national identity than the overall population… again, it's something we take for granted. We're, I would say, the only country in Europe that has a government that has a slogan like "One Scotland, many cultures," very explicitly embracing that idea of multiculturalism. And across the political spectrum, there's acceptance of that, even the Conservative Party would take a pretty harsh line on this in London.


They don't do that in Scotland. The media situation with the tabloids is a lot calmer here. And the result of that has been that there's less of a defensiveness amongst Muslims in Scotland. It's meant that people can just get on with their lives and just be normal. When you find your statistics and people identifying themselves as Scottish, that's just what normal people do. The minute you start focusing in on it as happens in many other countries, then you start creating the very problems that you claim to be trying to eliminate.


So, yeah, I'd be very interested in engaging in that discussion far more on a national level and I think Scotland has a pretty prominent part to play in that discussion.


-- Interview with Osama Saeed, candidate for the British Parliament for the Scottish National Party.

Read the entire interview for his views on the Scottish nationalism, multiculturalism, and the Khalifate.

Netherlands: Higher risk for vitamin D deficiency among Moroccans/Turks

Netherlands: Higher risk for vitamin D deficiency among Moroccans/Turks

Immigrants from Asian countries and asylum seekers carry a high risk for severe vitamin D deficiency. Serum 25(OH)D was lower than 25nmol/l in 40% of non-western immigrants  in the Netherlands. Pregnant non-western women even carry a higher risk: a study in midwife practices in The Hague showed a serum 25(OH)D lower than 25nmol/l in more than 80% of Turkish and Moroccan immigrants. Remarkably, 25(OH)D was below the detection limit in 22% of the Turkish women.

Source: IOF (Europe report)

France/Netherlands: Designer Muslim dress

France/Netherlands: Designer Muslim dress


This Friday Showroom Mama (Showroom for Media and Moving Art) will hold a fashion show for young Muslim women, featuring designs by Mada van Gaans and Emily Hermans, in the Dutch town of Eindhoven.


A group of young fashion-minded women, mostly second generation Moslem clearly stands out in our society. MSLM shows the fashion of this group. Because these young women grew up in the Netherlands, because they are Dutch, their background creates a fashion-clash which results in new interesting forms and silhouettes for both Moslem and non-Moslem women. Designers are inspired and influenced by this, use elements of another culture or design custom-fit products. From traditional to trendy, from the Mid-East to the West.


By MSLM MAMA is showing how we can play in to the wishes of this group of girls whom, with their extra frame of rules and their colourful background, have specific demands for the way they dress. MAMA is very curious to what the industry has planned for them!


Sources: Style Today(Dutch), Showroom Mama (Dutch/English)
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A horsewoman in a flowing, made-to-measure Islamic gown atop a snorting steed opened the fashion show on Thursday at the George V Hotel in Paris.


Abayas are the body-covering black robes some Muslim women don over their clothing in public, usually accompanied by a head scarf or niqab, the face veil that covers all but the eyes.


Designers who tried their hand at making over the abaya, which is required in Saudi Arabia, included Christian Dior's artistic director John Galliano, French luxury labels Nina Ricci and Jean Claude Jitrois and Italian houses Blumarine and Alberta Feretti.


The show began with a bang, as the carrot-topped cavaliere - decked out in a Galliano-designed abaya exploding with firework of coloured sequins and dangling fringe - rode her mount into the hotel's subterranean salon.


Twenty models followed on foot, wearing abayas heavy with rhinestones or airy in gauzy fabrics.


"I realised that most of the Saudi clients are wearing designer brands, but they're covered by a black abaya," said Dania Tarhini, the show's organiser and a general manager of Saks Fifth Avenue in Saudi Arabia. "It is an obligation to wear the abaya there, but let them feel good about it."


(more)


Source: Telegraph (English)

Paris: Ceremony at mosque in memory of Yemenia crash victims

Paris: Ceremony at mosque in memory of Yemenia crash victims


Nicolas Sarkozy will attend an inter-religious ceremony at the Paris mosque Thursday in memory of the victims of the Yemenia Airbus A310 crash off the Comoros.

After the crash, the rector of the Paris mosque, Dalil Boubakeur, wanted to express his condolences and his solidarity with our Comorian brothers, so numerous in France, by praying to God that he will grant mercy to all the victims of this new tragedy.  The prayer for the missing would be said at the Paris mosque.  In the same way, the CFCM (French Council of the Muslim Faith) asked all mosques in France to organize this prayer ritual during the weekly Friday prayers on July 3rd.

Thursday evening there would be a similar ceremony at the Notre Dame cathedral. 


The flight originated from France, and the victims are mostly French and Comorian citizens.   The 14 year old girl who survived the crash is native of the Comoros whose family immigrated to France.  Her mother, who was with her on the flight, has not been located.


The teenager who is thought to be the sole survivor of the Indian Ocean aircraft crash was not wearing a life jacket and could not swim, according to her father.


Rescuers found her in the dark in a sea of bodies, clinging to a piece of debris and surrounded by a fuel slick.


"We tried to throw a lifebuoy but she could not grab it so I had to jump in the water to get her," a police rescuer told France's Europe 1 radio.


Named as Bakari Baya, the 14-year-old girl originally lived in Paris before moving to the southern French city of Marseille, and had been travelling with her mother to the Comoros.


(more)


Sources: TF1 (French), SKY (English)

Spain: Moroccan woman first swine flu fatality

Spain: Moroccan woman first swine flu fatality


A 20-year-old Moroccan woman has died at a Madrid hospital, becoming Spain's first swine flu fatality, the Gregorio Maranon hospital announced Tuesday.


The woman, who suffered from asthma, died at dawn of a respiratory illness provoked by the A(H1N1) flu, said a health ministry statement.


The woman, who was seven-months pregnant when she arrived at the hospital, had been receiving treatment for several days.


When her condition deteriorated Monday, doctors carried out a Caesarean delivery of the baby, who while fragile because of her premature birth, was in good health and unaffected by the virus, said the ministry statement.


Earlier Tuesday a hospital spokeswoman announced the death, and said Health Minister Trinidad Jimenz would give a press conference later in the day.


Tuesday's death in Spain was the fourth in Europe from swine flu, after three deaths in Britain, the most recent of which was on Monday.


(more)


Source: Expatica (English)