Agora

This is a transcript of three consecutive segments from DR’s TV-Avisen, Saturday 18:30 April 1st 2006, reporting on the Democratic Moslems’ annual general meeting. Links to the online clips are provided, so you should be able to follow what they say in the clips by reading the transcript simultaneously.

Interview with Naser Khader from Democratic Moslems’ annual general meeting.
DR’s TV-Avisen, Saturday 18:30 April 1st 2006
Link to clip.

NEWS ANCHOR: After ten days in hiding because of threats on his life the leader of the Democratic Moslems, Naser Khader, today for the first time appeared in public. It happened at the organisation’s annual general meeting. Heavily guarded, he was interviewed by TV-Avisen.

VOICE: Noone, not even the nicest ladies, could escape being searched if they wanted to enter the Democratic Moslems’ annual general meeting. This was to protect the leader, Naser Khader, who right now is one of the most threatened persons in Denmark.

Naser Khader: It’s unpleasant to be threatened. It makes you feel very bad. Especially when your family is included and I think it’s okay to take a breather to consider your position. You can only understand how it’s like if you’ve tried it. It’s very hard to illustrate how hard it can be.

VOICE: Khader withdrew from the public eye after it was revealed ten days ago that Imam Ahmed Akkari made this remark, which could be interpreted as a threat on his life.

AKKARI: If he becomes Minister for Foreigner or Integration, won’t people appear who will blow up him and his ministry?

Naser Khader: I’m mad at the anti-democrats who try to shut people up whose only crime is to want to combine Democracy and Islam. I’m very mad. Now they’re going to get a fight. To the finish line.

Naser Khader: I’ve just been in need of a time-out to think things through and to make sure I have the support of my family, because all my family members have experienced the pressure. My sister feels unsafe living where she does because of my opinions and she and I aren’t of the same opinion.

[Naser Khader looks up, his voice almost breaks]

Naser Khader: And it’s things like that which I had to consider with my family. But I have received my family’s support to continue the fight. And I will.

Segment about threats against Democratic Moslems.
Link to clip.

NEWS ANCHOR: Several members of the Democratic Moslems organisation have been threatened on their lives and harassed. A member of the board is so frightened that she is considering to resign.

VOICE: Wissam Muhanna is a member of the board of the Democratic Moslems organisation. For that, he has received threats.

Wissam Muhanna: Some have said to me: It only costs one knife and you’ll be finished, leaving no trace.

Interviewer: A threat on your life, in other words?

Wissam Muhanna: A threat on my life, yes.

VOICE: Threats have also been made by phone.

Wissam Muhanna: I have received telephone calls where someone says: You’ll get your punishment, don’t worry.

VOICE: The threats frightened Wissam Muhanna to the point where he decided to live in hiding for a while.

Wissam Muhanna: I went into hiding for a while. I also have a wife and kids and they need me. But I want to say this: I’ll continue on in Democratic Moslems.

Yildiz Akdogan: One of our board members has been threatened because she decided to become an active member of our organisation.

Fathi el-Abed: She’s been spit on and she has been asked day after day about what she thinks she is doing, whether she’s a Moslem or not and also that she might not find it comfortable living where she does.

VOICE: The female board member does not wish to have her picture or her name publicised and she is now considering leaving the board.

Interviewer: Have you reported this to the police?

Wissam Muhanna: They’re investigating and I can’t say more than that.

VOICE: The threats are making the democratic Moslems stand firm in solidarity.

Yildiz Akdogan: It’s certainly not going to make anybody - neither me or any of the others - resign.

Jamilla Jaffer: It only shows that this is needed and that we need to stand firm. They’re not going to frighten us.

Wissam Muhanna: If I stop, if the others stop, how are we then going to show our Democracy in this country the good side of Islam?

Commentary about the atmosphere of the Democratic Moslems’ annual general meeting.
Link to clip.

NEWS ANCHOR: The meeting is still in progress at Parken in Copenhagen. Our reporter Claus Buhr is there. Claus, luckily it is very unusual with a meeting where threats of murder have been made against several of the participant. How has this affected the mood of the meeting?

Claus Buhr: The primary effect has been that there are fewer participants than was imagined. Some of those who wanted to come have called the organizers and said that they simply dare not come. Apart from that, we’ve all been searched going in and the Police Intelligence Service is out in force. It’s not so that you notice them particularly, but they’re here and there’s quite a few of them. Body searches and the presence of the Police Intelligence Service is rather unusual for something as normally boring as a general annual meeting.

NEWS ANCHOR: There’s been a lot of attention directed at Naser Khader as we see. How has the police strengthened the security surrounding him?

Claus Buhr: I would say that Khader at present is better protected than the Prime Minister and Queen Margrethe. There is a number - more than two - security guards near him. E.g. when he arrived here at Parken, it was secret by which entrance he arrived, when he arrived and how he arrived. Rather unusual for a mere member of parliament. The threat against him is estimated by the Police Intelligence Service to be directed not only at him but also against his family, his children. He is considered by the Police Intelligence Service to be one of the most threatened persons in Denmark at the moment.

NEWS ANCHOR: That was Claus Buhr in Parken in Copenhagen. In the programme ‘Søndag’ tomorrow evening you can see Naser Khader in a long interview about the death threats and his thoughts about leaving Danish politics entirely.