Muslim ambassadors: 'Sweden needs to change its laws'

[Aptrgangr]

Muslim ambassadors: 'Sweden needs to change its laws'

Published: 6th September 2007 17:19 CET

Ambassadors from Muslim countries have indicated that they intend to present the Swedish prime minister with a list of demands when they meet for talks on Friday.

Fredrik Reinfeldt invited the ambassadors from 20 Muslim countries to government offices on Friday following a wave of protests from Muslim countries after the publication of a caricature of Muhammad in local newspaper Nerikes Allehanda.

Reinfeldt's press secretary Oscar Hållén was unable to say which countries had confirmed their attendance.

Egyptian ambassador Mohamed Sotouhi told news agency TT that he and a group of fellow ambassadors had agreed on a list of measures Sweden needed to take if it was to secure a long-term solution to the Muhammad cartoon controversy.

According to Sotouhi, "comprehensive measures" were required if Sweden was to prevent some "amateur artist" from reawakening tensions every other month.

"We want to see action, not just nice words. We have to push for a change in the law," he said.

"Muslims need legal protection against the desecration of the Prophet Muhammad, maybe something similar to the protection enjoyed by Jews and homosexuals."

While praising the "very constructive steps" taken by Fredrik Reinfeldt, the Egyptian ambassador said that Sweden had much work left to do.

"In the long term the school curriculum has to convince pupils that if they want to express their opinion they should do so in such a way that it doesn't cause offence or hurt. This should also be part of journalism training," said Sotouhi.

"A permanent parliamentary committee also needs to be established to tackle islamophobia," he added.

The ambassador urged Reinfeldt to strive towards "reaching a balance between freedom of speech and taking responsibility to avoid offending Muslims or other religious groups in this society".

"Everybody will compare his wisdom with the situation in Denmark, whose prime minister treated the problem with a sort of arrogance, or at least delayed taking action to prevent the problem from escalating," he said.

Sotouhi described Sweden as a sophisticated country containing talented and creative diplomats.

"They know that proactive measures are necessary and we are ready to cooperate with them," he said.

Algeria's ambassador to Sweden, Merzak Bedjaoui, said the meeting "was an excellent initiative taken in a spirit of appeasement."

"At our level, we are trying to work hand in hand with Swedish authorities to try to create a real bridge between our communities," he said.

"When we speak of a dialogue between civilisations, it can't just be a catchy slogan. I think that the publication of this kind of caricature doesn't help at all," he said.

Earlier in the day the Oscar Hållén said that the meeting would form "part of our dialogue with these countries."

"We want to emphasize the fact that Muslims and Christians live side by side in Sweden in a spirit of mutual respect," he said.

Hållén further added that the government intended to reiterate its earler defence of Swedish laws surrounding freedom of expression.

The Local - Muslim ambassadors: \'Sweden needs to change its laws\'

[Waarnemer]

disturbing

they have a religious believe and their hosts better obey after it or peace will be a vague dream

nothing less then a threat

[Menydh]

There was a law in Spain during Franco's regime that would be most appropriate to reinstate and to extend as needed: Ley de Peligrosidad y Rehabilitación Social, literally the Law of Social Danger and Rehabilitation, for Communists, homosexuals and Freemasons.

It was sanctioned in 1970 as a more humane approach, as it included treatment for social rehabilitation.

[Strengthandhonour]

Not only do Swede's rape their own nation, now they are going to let foreigners tell them what to do. Way to go..

[Engelbrecht]

Originally Posted by Strengthandhonour

Not only do Swede's rape their own nation, now they are going to let foreigners tell them what to do. Way to go..

Easy now. They haven´t agreed on anything.

But the situation is worrying. Today some 50 major companies in Sweden have agreed that the muslim veil is allowed to wear at work. This includes border control employees, security guards and bank staff.

It´s now considered a part of the official dress code in for example financial business. But that is of course only in the heads of the politicly correct spokesmen, not the opinion of the ordinary citizen. But it is a bad sign.

Next time I get home from a vacation a muslim women in a veil may check my passport.
The buty in the picture is a member of the new swedish border control staff.

[Marcus Marulus]

But this is very moderate veil, by Muslim standards. In fact, not a veil, but a headscarf. Are they allowed to wear a real veil, covering the whole face?

[Heretik]

Let them wear veils but do not let them intervene in your way of life and your laws.

Things are getting out of control!

[Engelbrecht]

Originally Posted by Plethon

But this is very moderate veil, by Muslim standards. In fact, not a veil, but a headscarf. Are they allowed to wear a real veil, covering the whole face?

No, not at this time.

How is the situation in Croatia? I was in Croatia last summer, and what I know I didn´t see any muslim.

But we also made a trip to Bosnia, and suddenly they were everywhere.

[Heretik]

Muslims in Croatia wear veils like on the picture on this thread but most of them do not wear anything actually. It's probably because they are bosnian muslims that are not used wearing such things apart of some new "orthodox" muslims. Hohenheim can explain this better maybe.

[Marcus Marulus]

Originally Posted by Engelbrecht

How is the situation in Croatia? I was in Croatia last summer, and what I know I didn´t see any muslim.

There are about 40 000 Muslims in Croatia, most of them from Bosnia, some Albanians (out of population of 4,3 millions). Most of them are non-practicing. Among the minority of the practicing Muslims there can occasioanlly be found women with headscarves, even sometimes veil, but they are in so small numbers that nobody really cares. Islam is non-issue in Croatia.

They speak the same language and are indistinguishable from the rest of the population.

It is only when the relationship between Croats and Bosniaks (Bosnian Muslims) in Bosnia becomes the topic of discussion (the neighbouring state of Bosnia is formally in the state of peace, but the conflict about how the state should be run still divides
the three nations living there: Croats, Serbs and Bosniaks/Muslims), that the theme of the Bosnian Islam occasionally pops up in the public discourse.

[Weltschmerz]

Well, like Engelbrecht said, apart from the "positive" discrimination that has been going on ever since the mid-1990s, no further measures have been taken legally. Earlier measures recently were made stronger in actual legal practice with the concept of "hatecrime", but there is no connection with the caricature or the aftermath of that as far as I know.

The artist who made the caricature put the concept of the "free arts" into question, and he also mentioned the "Islamic border" explicitly. I don't know if this is good or bad, but it could be good publicity. The concept of free speech has had another beating, and a few brave people have raised their voices in favour of free speech, against those who want to limit it further. Most people have not seen the caricature, because it was only published in one daily newspaper. But those who have seen it will certainly wonder why it is sparking such a strained tone in diplomatic and political discourse. There is no explanation in the picture.

Our stance in real politics - as in the status quo of things I mean - invites muslims to tamper with our system and makes legitimate their claims. We really need to sort these things out. And that's an understatement since they are already working from within our system.