Basel: Parents fined for missed swimming lessons

Via SwissInfo:

Several Muslim families have been fined for keeping their children out of mandatory school swimming lessons, the first time such a punishment has been handed down.

Education authorities in canton Basel-City said on Thursday that seven children from five families had missed the lessons. Five of the children were removed on religious grounds. All of the students were girls under the age of ten.

This article was prepared by the Islam in Europe blog – islamineurope.blogspot.com

A revision of cantonal school policies made the lessons obligatory one year ago and each parent can be fined as much as SFr1,000 ($957) for not sending his or her child to the classes. Fines in these particular cases were set at around SFr350 per child per parent, meaning a two-parent family with two children who missed the classes must pay SFr1,400.

Basel-City schools offer swimming lessons that separate boys and girls past puberty, while younger children take the classes together.

Christoph Eymann, director of the canton’s education department, said it is important for schools to avoid creating parallel societies. There are a total of 1,033 Muslim boys and girls registered in the canton’s primary schools.

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UK: Surge in tax-funded ‘virginity repair’ operations

Via Daily Mail:

An increasing number of women are having controversial ‘virginity repair’ operations on the NHS before they get married.

In the last five years, 116 hymen repair operations have been undertaken at the tax payer’s expense.

Thousands more women are believed to be paying up to £4,000 to have the surgery done privately each year.

NHS surgeons carried out 30 of the procedures in 2009 – up 20 per cent from 2005.

This article was prepared by the Islam in Europe blog – islamineurope.blogspot.com

In the private sector one Harley Street doctor claimed to carry out up to three of the operations a day.

The specialist who offers a hymenoplasty for £1,850, said demand had tripled in recent years.

The operation, which is available on the NHS ‘for physical and psychological’ reasons, takes just half an hour.

Private practitioners have claimed a surge in demand in the operation has been driven largely by Muslim women desperate to preserve the illusion that they have not had sex before their wedding night.

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Consultant surgeon Ash Mosahebi, who performs the procedure at various London clinics, said he had noticed a recent rise in demand of around 40 per cent.

He said: ‘There is a clash of cultures where Muslim women are leading westernised lifestyles but then wanting to conform to the traditional lifestyle of remaining a virgin.

‘As it becomes more widely known that operations are available, they are getting to hear about them from friends and increasingly considering it.’

Critics, including moderate Muslim groups, have condemned the trend as a sign of the spread of Islamic fundamentalism in the West.

Imam Dr Taj Hargey, chairman of the Muslim Educational Centre in Oxford, called on the Muslim community to try to reverse the trend.

He said: ‘The rise in the number of these operations in Britain is a very disturbing trend.

‘The situation is very common in the Middle East where there is a huge scandal that can lead to divorce or even honour killings if there are not bloodstained bed sheets after the wedding night.

‘It is very disappointing that Muslim women in this country feel they need to lead a double life, resorting to subterfuge surgery.

‘That is not conducive to either their psychological or spiritual health and it is hypocrisy and double standards because Muslim men are doing as they please with women.

‘The Muslim community should be confronting the issue rather than pretending it is not happening. I shall be speaking out about it in my next sermon.’

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France: The threats facing Jews

A few months ago I wrote an opinion article about the threats to Jews and Judaism in Europe today. I pointed out that while the ‘anti-Jihadists’ focus on the ‘new’ Islamic antisemitism and expect Jews to join them, there are several reasons why it’s not a Jewish interest to do so. First, the Muslims are not the only ones who hate the Jews. And second, they cannot support efforts to assimilate minorities and join the fight against religious laws since assimilation and anti-religion laws could also lead to the decimation of the European Jewish community.

The Jerusalem Post interviewed two French Jewish leaders, and though they differ on which threat is worse, they basically say the same thing.

They might support a ban on burkas, but their reasons for doing so are not because they’re anti-Islamization.

This article was prepared by the Islam in Europe blog – islamineurope.blogspot.com

What’s the single most important issue affecting the Jews of France, Europe’s biggest Jewish community and the third largest in the world? Ask two Jews and you’ll get three opinions, right? Well, not quite.

Joel Mergui, president of the Consistoire Central, the body charged by the government with organizing the community’s religious affairs, and Richard Prasquier, the president of CRIF, the umbrella organization for Jewish advocacy groups, agree on the big issues but disagree over their order of importance – just as you’d expect from a leader who heads a religious organization and one helming a nonreligious political organization.

In separate interviews with The Jerusalem Post on Monday at their offices on opposite sides of the French capital, the leaders of the French Jewish establishment outlined the challenges, fears and hopes of the community as they see them.

Mergui believes assimilation is the biggest problem French Jewry has to take on.

(…)

Prasquier, too, believes assimilation is an important issue worth reckoning with.

However, he believes the main problem facing the Jewish community is the unholy marriage of anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism by extreme leftists, rightists and Islamists.

“My predecessor called it the Red-Green Alliance,” he said. “Some on the left don’t mind being allied with Islamic extremists like those who were on the Mavi Marmara [Gaza protest ship]. And many people in the center are being influenced by their views of Israel, so much so that they question their own policy toward it.”

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Mergui and Prasquier agree that Islamic veils completely or mostly covering women’s faces are contrary to the notion of being French and support the bill that would ban them in public. Yes, they both worry government interference over Jewish issues like shehita ritual slaughter, which some animal rights groups want to ban citing cruelty. But burqas are a another matter, they say.

“A majority of Muslims in France say these veils have nothing to do with Islam,” Mergui said.

“To me it is a breach of the social contract,” Prasquier said. “Women are separated from society in such a way that you cannot even see their faces.”

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Austria: Cracking down on benefits abuse by asylum seekers

Via Deutsche Welle:

Austria is cracking down on illegal immigrants and asylum seekers thought to be illegally claiming benefits. Interior Minister Maria Fekter says 500 police officers will be given the task of tracking down those accused of ripping off the state.

The officers are also to receive special training in dealing with foreigners and are to conduct nighttime raids on refugee centers and buildings housing asylum seekers. Neighbors are being asked to tell police about the shopping habits of those seeking asylum.

This article was prepared by the Islam in Europe blog – islamineurope.blogspot.com

Fekter said the aim was to expose those who are ripping off the system.

“Some of them are operating illegal vehicle workshops,” Fekter said. “There are some who have registered dozens of vehicles. And so we are investigating the details to see if these people really require aid.”

Raids over the past week led to six arrests on charges of illegal residence. Over 100 people were given notice that they did not meet the criteria for state aid.

The minister says that the cost of providing food and shelter for Austria’s 19,000 asylum seekers is around 100 million euros ($130 million) a year.

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EU: Islam in Europe now has strong local leadership

Via The National:

There are major changes underway for Muslims in Europe. They go beyond threats to ban the burqa in France or plans to build the largest mosque on the continent in Marseille. They go beyond the Dutch elections last month, which doubled the number of parliamentarians from the anti-Islam Freedom Party.

What is more momentous is the birth of a homegrown form of Islam, an indigenous approach to practising the religion in today’s Europe.

This article was prepared by the Islam in Europe blog – islamineurope.blogspot.com

And a Dutch imam is leading the way. Himself a product of a cultural melange, Mohammed Cheppih was raised in a family of Moroccan immigrants in the Netherlands. Having learnt his faith at the knee of community elders, Imam Cheppih, 33, now believes that it is time for a homegrown form of Islam that is true to the cultural mores of the country that he and many other young Muslims consider their home.

“I personally got fed up with religion promoted by others,” he told me over coffee in downtown Beirut during a recent trip to the region. “Culturally, it is not what I believe.”

He is no stranger to challenging conventional thinking. During his religious training at university in Saudi Arabia, his ideas about Islam’s role in the West rattled more than a few cages. “I was always under threat for being kicked out of school for questioning and debating everything,” he said.

Similarly the religious texts that are available in the Netherlands are usually translated from abroad, with little relevance to everyday life in his home country. It is a deficit that many critics have identified. Muslim communities in Europe often lack well-trained imams with a local connection who can truly engage both the Muslim and European aspects of a community, especially the youth.

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Denmark: DPP demands 28-year-rule

The Danish People’s Party wants to raise the marriage immigration age to 28. At the same time, the party suggests excluding Westerners (DA) from the new requirements.

Kristian Thulesen Dahl of the DPP explained that this is already the case for such things as visa requirements. This way Denmark would get Western immigrants from the same cultural background, and fewer non-Western immigrants and this will mean fewer conflicts in Danish society.

Forced and arranged marriages are most widespread in other cultures, he points out, and mentions that Turkey and Pakistan are problematic countries.

This article was prepared by the Islam in Europe blog – islamineurope.blogspot.com

Via Politiken:

The Danish People’s Party is threatening the government’s educational grant and early pension reforms if it does not increase to 28 the age at which Danes can marry foreign spouses and bring them to Denmark, according to Berlingske Tidende.

The DPP has called for an increase to 28 years of age of current rules stipulating that Danish nationals must be at least 24 before a marriage to a foreign spouse enables a family reunion, but that dispensations should apply for western nationalities.

“It will be one complex (Ed: of reforms). Particularly because we face a lot of tasks this autumn. And an election is looming in which we have to present our views to the electorate,” says DPP Leader Pia Kjærsgaard.

The government, however, appears unwilling to link the issues.

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UK: EDL members arrested in mosque bomb plot

Via Daily Mail:

Seven men were arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to blow up a Bournemouth mosque.

The men, six of whom are members of the England Defence League, were taken to Poole and Southampton police stations for questioning before being released without charge.

Among those arrested was EDL member John Broomfield, 27, who was pulled from his stationary vehicle after armed police opened fire on his van in Corfe Castle village.

This article was prepared by the Islam in Europe blog – islamineurope.blogspot.com

A spokesman for Dorset Police said: ‘Dorset Police can confirm that as part of an investigation surrounding threats to a Bournemouth mosque a total of seven people were arrested for conspiracy to cause an explosion.

‘Following an investigation police can now confirm these people have been released without charge.’

He added: ‘One of the people arrested was detained safely by armed officers in the Corfe Castle area.

‘We’ve been working very closely with the Muslim community and our local safer neighbourhood teams have been providing advice and reassurance throughout.

‘At this stage there is no indication whatsoever that any of the mosques in Dorset are under threat of attack.’

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Broomfield, the head of the Dorset EDL, said yesterday: ‘While travelling home from work I was stopped and arrested by armed police.

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Of the alleged plan to blow up the mosque, he added: ‘There has been no conspiracy, there has never been any conspiracy.

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UK: Prison apologizes for serving pork meat

Via BBC (h/t Al-Kanz):

A prison governor has apologised to Muslim inmates after they were served non-halal burgers.

A number of Muslim inmates at HMP Ford, an open prison in West Sussex, are claiming they were served pork burgers by prison staff on Saturday evening.

This article was prepared by the Islam in Europe blog – islamineurope.blogspot.com

A prison service spokesman said: “On Saturday a problem in the kitchens resulted in Muslim prisoners being mistakenly served non-halal food.”

It is still not clear exactly what meat was used.

The spokesman added: “The governor is apologising to the prisoners affected and an investigation is under way. The prison is working closely with the Muslim chaplain on this matter.”

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Leicestershire: Increase in report abuse against Muslims

Via BBC:

Muslims in Leicestershire are facing increasing abuse, according to figures from the police.

Between April 2008 and March 2009, officers recorded 25 offences against Muslims but in the following 12 months, the figure rose to 42.

Most incidents involved verbal abuse but there was a small number of cases in which veils were pulled off.

Police said they treated all types of hate crime as a priority and urged victims to report any problems.

This article was prepared by the Islam in Europe blog – islamineurope.blogspot.com

(…)

Rehana Sidat, from Leicester, who wears the niqab, said: “I think there are two things going on. There is more Islamophobia, people are becoming more intolerant.

“But also more people are reporting this sort of thing, having more confidence to bring it to the police.”

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