Benita Ferrero-Waldner, the European Commissioner for External Relations presented a luke-warm response to these demands from European Moslems, saying: “Freedom of religion is non-negotiable. It is a fundamental right of individuals and communities and entails respect for the integrity of all religious convictions and all ways in which they are exercised. Similarly, freedom of expression is central to Europe’s values and traditions. It is also non-negotiable. But it does come with responsibilities and should be exercised with the necessary sensitivity to others.”

According to Jyllands-Posten today, Amar Hariba of the World Islamic Call Society said: “The insult of prophets in the name of Freedom of Speech is a crime which cannot be ignored. We therefore ask the European Union to adopt laws to prohibit that kind of insults.”

To this blog, it seems clear that the European commissioner has chosen sides: For Religion and against Freedom of Speech. By qualifying Freedom of Expression and not Freedom of Religion, she has once again said to the world that Europe at large has no special interest in defending Freedom of Speech.

The delegate from Denmark was Imam Abdul Wahid Petersen who has declared himself in favor of making Sharia the law of the land.

The conference is expected to agree on a statement that will be issued today.

Related links:
Description of the Conference from April 3rd

Who is Asmaa Abdol-Hamid?

Asmaa is a social worker in the town of Odense. She came to Denmark in 1988 when she was six. She and her family - six siblings and her mother and father - had fled first from Lebanon to the United Arab Emirates and then to Denmark.
Source: Article in Jyllands-Posten “Asmaa på hjemmebane”. March 16, 2005

The earliest news I can find about her is from June 16th, 2001. At a bazaar in Vollsmose, an immigrant-dominated neighbourhood in Odense, she and her sisters are photographed selling falafels, cookies and snacks. She is reported to be heading the Young Women’s Activity Organisation.
Source: Fyens Stiftstidende, “Hyggedag in Vollsmose”, June 16th, 2005

At a demonstration two months later, the Young Women’s Activity Organisation is heard from once again. This time they are demonstrating against the to-be-appointed Israeli Ambassador to Denmark, Carmi Gillon. Carmi Gillon was once the head of Israel’s intelligence service, Shin Beth, which has used “physical pressure” against detainees. Quoting:

With blood and soul we’re liberating Denmark, Asmaa Abdol-Hamid shouts to the demonstrators.

Source: Fyens Stiftstidende, “Piger demonstrerede mod ambassadør Gillon”, August 16th, 2001

In a debate in Fyens Stiftstidende’s Letters section during July and August of 2004, she debates the 24-year rule, which says that Danes (though it’s aimed at immigrant who have a tradition for arranged marriages) cannot bring their spouses to Denmark before they’ve turned 24. Asmaa claims that the purpose of the rule is to lessen the number of foreigners in Denmark and that the rule may be in violation of Human Rights. That wasn’t the intention of the rule, many respondents say. It was aimed at preventing forced/arranged marriages between young immigrants and desperate young people from their home countries.
Source: Fyens Stiftstidende, letters to the editor through July and August of 2004

On December 23rd, 2004 Asmaa is told by the local Social Democrats that she won’t be a candidate for the Social Democrats.
Source: Fyens Stiftstidende, “S-forening vragede Asmaa”, December 23rd, 2004

On March 22nd, 2005 she instead decides to run for the Unity List, a hodge-podge of Socialists and Communists.
Source: Fyens Stiftstidende, “Muslimsk debattør stiller op for Enhedslisten”, March 22nd, 2005

In a letter to the editor of May 18th, 2005, she attacks the Queen for having made some remarks about immigrants in a new biography about her. Quoting from her letter:

It’s very sad that the Queen of Denmark in the biography ‘Margrethe’ makes remarks about limits to tolerance when it comes to Moslems in this country and that Denmark at the moment is being challenged by Islam.

Quoting Queen Margrethe from Nomos:

We are presently being challenged by Islam. Both globally and locally. […]Resistance has to be shown and sometimes one has to run the risk of being labelled something less than flattering. Because some things one shouldn’t be tolerant about. When one is tolerant, one should stop and make sure whether it is out of convenience or conviction.[…]Perhaps we are at a crossroad. Crossroads unfortunately very often only show themselves after one has passed them. But we’ve in any case understood that we mustn’t submit to what’s frightening. We cannot sell our conception of justice and legality.

Her letter received a flurry of responses, all of them condemning her.
Source: Fyens Stiftstidende, “Dronning svigter”, April 18th, 2005

In May of 2005, 24 year-old Ammar Hasan was shot outside a the Copenhagen disco Rust by a bouncer. Imam Abu Laban urges the bouncer’s family to pay 200,000 DKK to the family of the deceased in blood-money so they won’t be bothered. In a letter to the editor in Fyens Stiftstidende of June 16th, Asmaa supports him.
Source: Fyens Stiftstidende, “Se på krigen i Irak”, June 14th, 2005

On July 6th, 2005 Asmaa participates in a demonstration against George Bush.
Source: Fyens Stiftstidende, “Bush-modstand samlede bredt”, July 7th, 2005

On October 29th of 2005, acting as the coordinator for 11 Moslem organisations, she filed a complaint with the police against Jyllands-Posten’s caricatures of Muhammed, saying:

The Culture Editor of Jyllands-Posten says in the article that Moslems must be ready to be subjected to insult and ridicule. This proves to us that the purpose of the article was to insult and ridicule a legally existing faith community and that is prohibited by the article regarding blasphemy.

Source: Jyllands-Posten, “Muslimer melder JP til politiet”, October 29, 2005

On November 1st, 2005 Asmaa refuses to shake hands with a Alex Behrendtsen of the DPP at a debate, saying that Moslem women don’t touch men. This is disputed by many Moslems and Danes.
Source: Fyens Stiftstidende, “DF forsøgte med en udstrakt hånd”, November 2nd, 2005 + Fyens Stiftstidende, “- Det er høfligt at give et håndtryk”, November 4th, 2005

On November 8th, 2005 the Unity List distances itself from Asmaa Abdol-Hamid, saying:

The message Asmaa sends [through her actions] is not the primary message of the Unity List

Source: Fyens Stiftstidende, “Afstand til Abdol-Hamid”, November 8th, 2005

On November 11th, 2005 Karsten Hønge of the Socialist People’s Party attacks Asmaa, saying she is a Moslem fundamentalist who shouldn’t call herself a socialist. Quoting from the clip:

We [the socialists] are rooted in Free Thought, Liberation, Tolerance and Humanism and I think that if you are trying to limit Freedom of Speech in Denmark by banning some so simple drawings as those in question, then you belong to the reactionaries.

Source: Clip in TV2/Fyn, November 11th, 2005 - link

The election turned out to be a succes for Alex Behrendtsen of the DPP and Karsten Hønge of the Socialist People’s Party. Asmaa Abdol-Hamid wasn’t elected.
Source: Fyens Stiftstidende, “Odense Byråd 2006-2009″, November 16th, 2005

On March 16, 2006 Asmaa tells the Danes that the 11 Moslem organisations she represents are going to take the case of the Muhammed cartoons to the European Human Rights Court in Brussels, since the Crown’s Prosecutor found that the cartoons didn’t break Danish law.
Source: Jyllands-Posten, “Muslimer vil gå til tops med klage”, March 16th, 2006

Comments on her history
I find it strange that the publicly-owned Denmark’s Radio is willing to allow Asmaa Abdol-Hamid on the air as a host of her own programme. It’s just not done, allowing people so involved with politics and with such extreme views to be hosts on a programme. I wonder what their reasons for hiring her were…

The Programme
The first programme was shown March 29th and was called “The Dangerous Multiculture”. Karen Jespersen, a former Minister for Integration for the Social Democrats was the guest.
Here I will translate some excerpts from the programme. It can be viewed online by clicking this link.
This programme is actually a perfect example of media bias. Here we have a person who tried to get the newspaper which published the cartoons censored and who now attacks Denmark as such for not censoring it, asking this question:

Has [the Muhammed-crisis] increased the distance between Moslem and non-Moslems in Denmark?

Of course it has, you silly twit! Censorship is not taken lightly by the Danes. A fact which I find it difficult to believe you haven’t noticed. And what’s with the “Moslems and non-Moslems”? Surely you mean Danish Moslems and Danes in general? Moslems aren’t the majority yet, you know… Or didn’t you have the courage to say “Moslems and Infidels”?

Talking about the cartoons, Asmaa says:

[…]the Prophet Muhammed - God’s peace and blessings be upon him - […]

That was just uncalled for. Fuck the Prophet and don’t use your religious language in a programme that’s financed by MY money where I’m paying part of your salary, you dumb bitch.

Something I noticed just after that, is that whenever the camera turns to Asmaa, she has a mocking little smile on her big cow-face.

At one point Karen Jespersen says that the whole thing was about fear of retaliation - that Jyllands-Posten was testing the limits of free speech because some people didn’t dare to draw Muhammed. This is a well-documented fact. Quoting Wikipedia:

On September 17, 2005, the Danish newspaper Politiken ran an article under the headline “Dyb angst for kritik af islam”[12] (”Profound fear of criticism of Islam”). The article discussed the difficulty encountered by the writer Kåre Bluitgen, who was initially unable to find an illustrator who was prepared to work with Bluitgen on his children’s book Koranen og profeten Muhammeds liv (”The Qur’an and the prophet Muhammad’s life”). Three artists declined Bluitgen’s proposal before an artist agreed to assist anonymously. According to Bluitgen:

One [artist declined], with reference to the murder in Amsterdam of the film director Theo van Gogh, while another [declined, citing the attack on] the lecturer at the Carsten Niebuhr Institute in Copenhagen[12].

Asmaa obivously doesn’t do much homework, otherwise she wouldn’t have asked this question:

But wasn’t that something we discovered after the crisis erupted and not before the cartoons were drawn?

The rest of the programme is more or less a normal debate programme. Asmaa asks critical questions of Karen Jespersen where she does her best to try to prove that the poverty and the conditions in Moslem countries have nothing to do with Islam. She also asks whether the 24-year rule is reasonable - a subject we know her opinion on from my history of her political ‘career’. Adam asks question in the best tradition of leftist academics which are critical of the “tone” of the debate and at one time accuses Karen Jespersen of being kind-of-a-xenophobe because she isn’t a full-blood multiculturalist like he is.

The programme would have been very depressing had not the guest been Karen Jespersen who gives good answers to all the questions. My impression is that it is more of a court of multiculturalism and Islamophilia than it is a debate programme. If a leftist Moslem multiculturalist was invited to the studio, there wouldn’t be much to debate.

Natasja Crone: Good evening and welcome, Naser Khader.

Naser Khader: Good evening.

Natasja Crone: What happened the first time you heard about this clip where Akkari made the remarks we are about to see?

Naser Khader: I would like to emphasise this: I didn’t have a nervous breakdown. I didn’t go into hiding. But I needed a time-out. And that’s not so much because of what the ridiculous Akkari says that’s the problem. It was what came before. I was contacted by the French journalist who produced the programme who told me that this group, they hate me with a vengeance, that my name is mentioned every five minutes, that they’re conducting a massive smear campaign against me, not only in Denmark, but also in the Islamic world.

Natsja Crone: So he just called you up?

Naser Khader: Yes, and then he told me, before the programme was aired. But also the build-up to the airing of the programme, the day before, the media almost went on berserk. That made my family very worried, so I needed to withdraw, take a time-out and consider my situation.

Natasja Crone: But what were your thoughts when you heard this? When the things you describe happened in the media - the headlines, they’ll bomb you and so on. When did you make the decision, what were your thoughts?

Naser Khader: The threats, they’ve been there for several years. that was a factor. And the more threats I receive, the more limits are placed on my freedom. And I also had to consider my general position; is it a condition for the rest of my life that I’ll have to limit my Freedom of Movement? Is it also a condition for the rest of my family? They also experience pressure from people around them. The new thing is that now I’ve begun receiving unpleasant calls and so on from the Islamic world. All those things combined… By the way, in connection with the founding of Democratic Moslems I have been ‘on’ for several months, almost every day. I needed a time-out, a break. I haven’t had a minute to think things through.

Natasja Crone: what did you do? You say you had a need to.. What did you do?

Naser Khader: Well, together with my family I want far away and got some fresh air and began thinking things through. I also need to have my family on my side, because they’re also… There’s both support from my family but also concern. So the first couple of days I was mostly resigned, thinking ‘What now? - should I resign from politics?’ and then I thought that if I do, they’re gonna hate me anyway, no matter whether I stay on or resign. After a couple of days I started getting more and more angry. Now I’m simply so angry that I’m back in shape.

Natasja Crone: What does your family say about this?

Naser Khader: There is a lot of concern. I have the support of all members of my family, but they also experience a big pressure. They’re also punished because of me, and that’s disturbing. And not everyone in my family agree with me, yet they still experience annoyances, harrasment. If I was the only one who was targeted, it would be one situation. But when both my family and members of Democratic Moslems experience harassment, threats - we’ve seen examples of that recently. I ask: ‘What is our crime?’ Our crime is that we want to combine Islam and Modernity and Democracy and being Danish. I don’t see any crime in that, but some seem to do.

Natasja Crone: But about Akkari - the threat we saw in the French documentary was the drop that made the cup run over. But that cup is also filled with a lot of threats you’ve received for years. What kinds of threats do you receive? How do you feel this in your everyday life?

Naser Khader: Well it is… I won’t go into details about this, but it does leave marks when you’re told what people are going to do to you. It also leaves a mark when you’re an object of hate among certain groups. If only they could accept that my position is very different from theirs, but that isn’t the case. They’re organizing - the people who dislike me - organized, massive smear campaigns against me. It’s also on Arab websites. My address, which is supposed to be a secret, is also on Arab websites. Even my family in the Middle East have experienced some unpleasantries. I think that’s disturbing. Therefore, I have to take care not to be too egoistic, but also consider the welfare of my family.

Natasja Crone: These threats also mean that you live under constant Police protection. How does that work?

Naser Khader: That’s also a factor. The more threats, the more protection and the less freedom. That’s unpleasant. It’s unpleasant to have to constantly have to plan what to do. Just having to go and buy a litre of Milk needs to be planned. Just going to the movies with the kids, or to BR to buy some toys it has to be planned.

Natasja Crone: How many people come when you go to BR to buy toys?

Naser Khader: I won’t go into that, but it’s something that has to be planned. Before, I had protection when I went to certain places, to certain risk areas, but now it has entered my private sphere as well. It’s comforting to have protection and I am very pleased with it and the people who protect me are very professional, but it still makes me feel almost a prisoner. I think: what I’m fighting for is freedom, also freedom of movement for others but the more I fight for freedom, the smaller my own freedom gets and what I ask myself sometimes, especially when I get threatened, is if it’s a condition that I must accept or one which I should fight? Is it a condition of life? How long will this last? Will it get worse? That’s some of the things I have considered during that time.

Natasja Crone: In the French documentary which we saw a clip from before, there’s also another clip that worries you. A clip where it is mentioned that there are Salafists in the Islamic Faith Community. Let’s take a look at the clip.

[Clip from French Documentary “The Cartoons of Wrath” by Mohammed Sifaoui]

Abu Zachariah: The Moslems’ problem is that they’re too divided. Like in France there are 60 branches. I won’t mention all of them. But there’s the Salafists, the Jihadists, and so on.

Mohammed Sifaoui: Are you…

Abu Zachariah: We are Salafists. Moslem Brothers.

VOICE: Salafists, Moslem Brothers. This man confirms to us that Abu Laban’s Faith Community is among the most radical Islamist movements.

[Studio]

Natasja Crone: Naser Khader, please explain what this means, when he says that there are Salafists.

Naser Khader: Well, I didn’t see the programme when it was aired. I first saw it a couple of days ago. What shocked me the most wasn’t the threats directed at me, it was more what was said here.

Natasja Crone: And why does this shock you so?

Naser Khader: The man whose face we don’t see is Abu Zachariah, one of Abu Laban’s closest associates. He admits that they’re Salafists, of the Moslem Brotherhood, but Salafists. In short there are two kinds of Salafists. There’s the Wahabi-Salafists which include the Al-Qaeda movement and Osama bin Laden. They mean to achieve their goal through direct violence and terror. Then there’s the Brotherhood-Salafists - the ones he is talking about there - who admit that… their ideology is that they admit to being weak and therefore they don’t use violence, but what they do is that they play a double game. On one hand, they are obliging to society at large, but at the same time they have a hidden agenda that is to spread their faith, to educate and to influence young people to think like them, to embrace their ideology. I think that’s very worrying. Actually, that’s what worried me the most. I discovered that we have a number of Trojan Horses among us and that’s worrying.

Natasja Crone: I would like to add that we have confronted Ahmed Akkari with this and he denies that there’s a Moslem Brotherhood here in Denmark…

Ahmed Akkari: Well, then I don’t understand that Abu Laban’s closest associate is revealed… admits… he doesn’t admit, he’s revealed to be a Brotherhood-Salafist.

Natasja Crone: Would you say that Men like Ahmed Akkari and Abu Laban are dangerous?

Naser Khader: No, I don’t think… I wouldn’t say that they would directly encourage violence, but what we have to remember is that they are role models. There are many who look to them, also some semi- and fully psychopathic people. What we have to remember is that Van Gogh in the Netherlands… No Imams encouraged the killing of him…

Natasja Crone: Who is a director of documentaries…

Naser Khader: Exactly. What happened was that massive hate- and smear-campaigns were directed at him, that he was made all but lawless. He was called a rat - Abu Laban has called me a rat. And he was called an Islam-hater and things like that. That made a 25-year-old with a Moroccan background take matters into his own hands and become Allah’s self-appointed judge and jury.

Natasja Crone: So it’s also there that they participate in creating a situation. But they themselves say that much of this is part of the Arab rhetoric, that it shouldn’t be taken literally, that when there’s talk of a Martyr operation in this documentary, what’s meant is really to do one’s best. Do you see something there?

Naser Khader: They’re lying straight to our face. I have been an interpreter and a translator - i.a. here in Denmark’s Radio many years ago - and I know Arab rhetoric. I don’t think this can be excused with bombastic Arab rhetoric. I know bombastic Arab rhetoric. I’m flabbergasted when Abu Laban is in TV-Avisen’s studio, saying that four interpreters don’t understand Arabic. I know what’s rhetoric and what’s not. So it’s… Last week, the spokesman of the Islamic Faith Community Ahmed Garzen was here and he was sitting in my spot, saying that those remarks Ahmed Akkari made have consequences - he’s no longer going to be our spokesman. What I’m thinking is that if this was harmless and common Arab rhetoric, then why did those remarks have consequences?

Natasja Crone: Naser, we’ve asked if Akkari would like to come here today. You didn’t wish to meet him here in the studio, but we met him and he had a question for you.

[Ahmed Akkari on camera]

Ahmed Akkari: I would like to ask whether, he is aware that the things he say, it’s something… That he’s being used… there.

VOICE: How?

Ahmed Akkari: I think they’re being used to profile a larger critique, one-sided critique of Islam - spoken with his tongue - which isn’t balanced.

VOICE: So what you’re saying is that Anders Fogh or the Danish People’s Party are using Naser Khader?

Ahmed Akkari: There’s certainly some who might have an interest in Naser Khader only focusing critically on the errors his Moslem Brothers and Sisters have.

[Studio]

Natasja Crone: What is your response to this? That you’re being used in a game and tha….

Naser Khader: It’s obvious… I’m just so tired of their conspiracy theories. There are some who are using somebody else… You know what? I’m an independent, critical individual who knows my own mind. Nobody’s using me. Nobody’s telling me what to think. My opinions are mine. And moreover, what I think is also found in the Arab world. Notice the debate programmes on the Arab satellite channels… Al Jazeera. There people who have never been to Denmark and who don’t know Anders Fogh and Pia Kjærsgaard, who are saying the same things I do. They’re also critical of the Islamists. I think I’m acting in the best interest of the majority of Moslems by isolating the Islamists, the Salafists and saying that the majority of Moslems in Denmark have behaved themselves properly during the Muhammed-conflict. It’s not here we’ve seen burnings of Danish flags. It’s people who want to be integrated, it’s people who want to be part of Danish society but there are people who want to create an us-them. And they expound on things that almost make me vomit, conspiracies. Some are using some. When things happen it’s the fault of others. I’m tired of it.

Natasja Crone: But it’s an extreme contrast, because while you are hated and seen as a traitor in some Moslems millieus, you’ve never been more popular with the voters, all polls show. How do you feel about that?

Naser Khader: Well, I’m pleased by the support I’ve received, but I realise that there are some… If Akkari and his peers start supporting me and agree with me, I’ll start worrying. So I recognise it as a condition that we disagree and I have no problems with people being fundamentalists and literal and choose to lead a boring life. That’s one’s own concern. What I see as a problem is that they try directly or indirectly to make others live as they do. That’s what I don’t like.

Natasja Crone: The proselytizing way they do…

Naser Khader: Yes, exactly. I’m not… Recently A4, the weekly newsletter A4, did a survey that showed that 16% of Moslems feel that I represent them. I’m pleased with that. That’s more than support the Social Liberals in Denmark. So if 16% of the Moslems are Socially Liberal fanatical Democrats, I’m very happy.

Natasja Crone: Briefly, you’ve said today that you want to be Minister for Integration - is that your final goal?

Naser Khader: If you’d asked me a year ago, I would have said no. That policy area is nothing but trouble. But the fact that they see me becoming Minister for Integration as a nightmare, as worrying, makes me think that if that’s their problem, then my one goal from now on, in the short run, is to become Minister for Integration. If that’s their fear, I’ll give it to them. I’ll do everything to become Minister for Integration.

Natasja Crone: Thank you very much.

This article appeared in Berlingske Tidende on Sunday, April 2nd, 2006. It’s a long interview with Naser Khader where he ouitlines his thoughts on the Danish Imams and their extremist organisations and how to counter them as a democratic Moslem.

“We are Facing an Incognizable Enemy from Within”
By Jesper Larsen

Much of Naser Khader’s time is currently spent in his office where newspapers are cluttered about and books line the walls from floor to ceiling. The literature is diverse - everything from the Koran and other holy books to Anne Vibeke-Holst and that sort of thing.

[Note: Anne Vibeke-Holst is a paperback writer. Mushy stuff.]

His bodyguards from the Police Intelligence Service are constantly within reach and follow him 24 hours a day. Recently an advertising distributor who was confused and semi-suspiciously going to and fro on the sidewalk, carrying ads for a new pizza place felt this. He was detained immediately.

“My family felt it. My wife Bente said that I sometimes repeated myself and talked nonsense. I am constantly tense. When we’re out of the house, I am almost paranoid and just want to get back home. But I know I have protection and that does make me feel safer. The thing is though, that I feel I am wearing manacles.”

Naser Khader turns to face the computer and goes to the website of Mellemfolkeligt Samvirke and enters a special chatroom about Moslem youths’ lives.

[Note: Mellemfolkeligt Samvirke is a cross-cultural cooperation organisation. Literally translated: Cooperation between Peoples. The website referred to is probably this: http://ungdomsliv.dk/]

“Look at this, see the hate,” he says and in quick succession reads from several postings: “Naser Khader is a pig, I hate Naser Khader, fucking hypocrite, he should be trampled to death, Naser Khader doesn’t care about us other Moslems.”

He closes the website where much more of the same kind can be read.

“Even on a website as harmless as that I am smeared massively, even by school-children. And that’s my point, that we are dealing with extremist Imams who defer from encouraging violence and terror. But when Abu Laban e.g. says that I am a rat - why does he say that, why doesn’t he say that I am a pig? It’s because rats are exterminated. An Imam in the south of Jutland said that those who hate Naser Khader will go to paradise. The Imams do not directly encourage violence and terror - but when they focus their hate on a single person, it can have serious consequences. The same thing happened to Van Gogh - no Imams in the Netherlands said he should be killed. But the organized hatred was so massive that he was made an outlaw and in the end someone killed him independently.”

So it’s the psychopath you fear?

“Yes. If you take a look at some of the people in the entourage of some of the Imams, they’re short-cropped psychopaths, they remind me of Nazis.”

How does your family feel the pressure?

“My niece went to an Arab wedding where several people walked out because she was related to the traitor. My nephew was apprenticed to a Pakistani mechanic - when he found out I was his uncle, he was fired. My mother receives calls from the Middle East where she is told what will be done to me and the family.”

What?

“All kinds of things, I won’t go into details. But I’m not the only target, my extended family is also a target.”

Are you afraid that the threats will be acted upon?

“Yes.”

What are your thoughts about that?

“I have asked myself many times: What is my crime, what did I do? My crime is to say that I want to combine Islam and Democracy. That is what some see as a crime. Now the Imams are saying that with the Muhammed-affair they have put limits on how much Islam and Moslems can be offended. They think the Danes have been taught a lesson. I say that founding Democratic Moslems has acted as a lightning rod which has helped hinder a smear campaign and lynch-justice against Moslems in Denmark. That is also the impression I get from my emails, that now it is clear that Moslems are different.”

Double-dealing and Brain Washing

Naser Khader goes online again, this time to search for some material about the Imam conference in Bahrain last week where both Abu Laban and Ahmed Akkari where delegates. He finds a photograph of the Council of Fatwas for Europe, chaired by a certain Professor Youssouf al-Qardawi.

“The ones who arranged the conference in Bahrain, that is, amongst others, al-Qardawi - him, that’s him,” says Naser Khader and points to the image. “It’s him who talked about the Friday of Wrath, it’s him who said the Moslem wrath must strike Denmark. Al-Qardawi was among the first to issue a fatwa justifying the killing of innocents for purposes of Jihad. We’re seeing the consequences of that in Iraq where innocent civilians are slaughtered. Al-Qardawi helps decide how to be a Moslem in the West. With the others he issues fatwas about how women should work, fatwas against fraternisation between the sexes, fatwas against Moslems working in banks because they collect interest. And al-Qardawi also organises a conference which the Danish Imams were delegates to. I have realised that they have a very strong international network.”

Naser Khader sees al-Qardawi et al. as Salafists - a very intolerant branch of Islam. They aren’t just Islamists and several of the Danish Imams are Salafists, he thinks.

“There are two kinds of Salafists. One is the Wahabi-Salafists, which includes people like Osama bin Laden and the al-Qaeda network and then there are the Salafists of the Moslem Brotherhood. Salafism means to go back and live life like it was lived at the time of the Prophet. The bin Laden-salafists are for global Jihad using terror as the means. The Brotherhood-Salafists acknowledge the weak position of Moslems at the moment and therefore discourage violence. Their means are to educate, spread the faith and gain control of Moslem societies. They think Sharia should be the law where Moslems live. That means that that youth thing is actually the consequence of that education, where they refer to quotes from the Koran and are in the process of being brainwashed,” he says referring to the homepage from Mellemfolkeligt Samvirke.

“What is significant about both kinds of Salafists is that they have embraced the concept that as long as you’re weak, it is acceptable to be double-dealing. That was what shocked me most, that some Danish Imams are salafists. Salafists hate everybody who’s not like them, they are also against other Moslems. And especially secular Moslems and Moslems who want to combine Islam and Democracy.”

We Need to Wake Up

Naser Khader thinks that they and only they should be the matter of concern - the Salafists. The Muhammed-affair is neither about the government’s handling of the issue or about immigration policies.

“Maybe we should investigate who should have met who and so on, that may be. But I think that we should be careful that it doesn’t distract us from what is the real issue. The real issue is to strengthen the integration and it’s about the fact that we have some Trojan Horses among us. The Salafists. And they worry me sick.”

You don’t want to talk more about that investigation?

“I don’t want to talk about that investigation because it distracts from what it’s really about. We’re facing an incognizable enemy from within. That’s why we need to be united in the fight against this enemy. But I would like to make it clear that I am a fanatical Democrat. I don’t want Ministers to abuse their power and not inform the parliament - all that needs to be in order. That said, there’s something more important than that. We need to wake up. We are dealing with an enemy within who is more dangerous than you can imagine. I recently realised that.”

And Salafism isn’t about the Government’s immigration policies either?

“Salafism has nothing to do with the Government’s immigration policies. Salfists are present in the Netherlands and Spain too - the ones who blew up themselves in Madrid were Salafists too. The Salafists try to maintain pressure and in my opinion they are the ones who are responsible for the Muhammed-conflict. It might be true that the way our allies act, the lack of support from the other Eu-countries and the US, it might have something to do with our immigration policies, I won’t reject that notion out of hand. But this is about something much bigger than that. Consider the Egyptian Ambassador to Denmark, who’s a Christian by the way. She said that the main culprit is Naser Khader. Because when he said that he disagreed with the Islamic Faith Community, an apology had almost been imposed on the Danish Government. He split the Moslems - so a hidden agenda was most certainly present. There was a fight about who would command the Moslems in Denmark and the West. They used the cartoons as an excuse in that fight.”

I want to be Minister for Integration

What is your opinion of the general attitude towards the Muhammed-affair in your party?

“I am worried about the general lack of knowledge of what we are dealign with - and that is true for the political system in general. Ask people in Christiansborg if they know the Salafists. In all parties - not just my own - there is a desperate naivity and lack of knowledge in regard to the Salafists and the threat we are facing. This disturbs me.”

[Note: Christiansborg is the Danish Parliament Building]

How does what has happened affect the integration in Denmark - the large majority are neither Islamists or Salafists?

“No, they’re not. That is what we need to remember always and that is why we need to stop talking about ‘the Moslems’ - the Salafists hate the majority of Moslems who aren’t like them. The problem is that they wield a lot of power. There are 100 Imams in Denmark but only five or six are prominent.”

And that’s the Salafists?

“it’s been revealed that they are Salafists. Thay have hidden agendas. Them going to a conference arranged by a man like that — really… Who bankrolls them, by the way? You can’t go to a conference like that in Bahrain for less than 30,000 DKK. Where does that money come from?”

I think the theory is that the Muhammed-affair has been good for certain Imams because they’ve shown that they’re really fighting for the Prophet up here and that that has yielded them economic support from elsewhere?

“Yes, they receive a lot of support. They’re also backed by totalitarian regimes with their own agenda. That’s also why they fear me becoming Minister for Integration.”

They do?

“Yes, that’s why Akkari talks about someone blowing me up. If I’d been asked six months ago, I would have said no, I don’t have the energy. Now I only have one goal and that’s to become Minister for Integration.”

Why?

“Because I am their worst nightmare. Because I understand them, because I know their ideology and their agendas. I know how to resist them and I understand the various connections. That’s the first. The second is that concrete initiatives are needed to really turn on the switch for the majority of Moslems who are marginalised, unemployed and unintegrated. One of the most important things is to unite them and all other Danes under the flag of some common values. I think that’s more important than standing around throwing rocks at each other, calling each other sheeps, goats and dangerous.”

You say that the goal now is to become Minister for Integration, that that’s the most important thing for you…”

“Yes.”

…yet the prospects for the Social Liberals joining a coalition government seem remote?

“I can tell from the polls that there is a possibility for a majority consisting of the Liberals, the Conservatives and the Social Liberals. That chance at pulling the government in the right direction mustn’t be missed. I think there’s a strong backing for this view - also among the Liberals and the Conservatives. I think that this possibility is more realistic than the possibility of a government consisting of the Liberals and the Social Democrats. Three quarters of the emails I receive are from people who don’t understand me being a Social Liberal. As one says, it’s been impossible to understand up till now how to combine Islam and Democracy. He’s understood that now, but he doesn’t udnerstand how I can be a Social Liberal.

Naser Khader laughs in a disarming way and shows some other emails.

“Hi Naser Khader! When I vote I usually vote for the Danish People’s Party, but if I promise to vote for you, will you promise me to stay on in Danish politics?”

Don’t worry, Naser Khader will stay.

“Once I was very racist and voted for Jonni Hansen (NOTE: Nazi) for local elections because of people such as Abu Laban and Ahmed Akkari,” another email says. “It’s nice to know that Democratic Moslems exist and I will join the support organisation immediately. It’s way cool that you’ve tatooed Democracy in Arabic, in case you should run into one of the Imams.”

Naser Khader nods.

“I see myself as a Classic Social Liberal. And I very much feel a connection with the original spirit of the party. And that’s why I think that what I represent is pure radicalism (NOTE: See note at top). That is what the Social Liberals have been known for and they have been frontline soldiers in the fight against blind religiousity and against intolerance. They’ve been frontline soldier for Democracy and the Rule of Law. As Søren Bald says, take a look a this,” says Naser Khader and shows a short note from the Chairman of the Social Liberals.

“Dear cousin. It’s an extraordinary pleasure to see that the strongest and the best values of the Social Liberals, centered about Freedom of Speech, Democracy and Secularism are represented by one man who has come to both Denmark and the Social Liberals from without but who in such an elegant way has understood what Democracy is about. A man who doesn’t want to implicate all kinds of pseudo-considerations into the substance of Free Formation of Opinions and real Freedom of Speech. It’s an honor for the Social Liberals that this man has come to us as his party of choice.”

The words of the chairman have been pinned to the wall in Naser Khaders office

Have you ever considered changing your party?

“Why should I change my party? I am a Social Liberal and I think that what I do is in keeping with the radical spirit of the Social Liberals.”

Well, the question wants to be asked when you aim to be Minister for Integration while disagreeing with your party. What would you do if Anders Fogh Rasmussen calls you up this Monday and asks you to be his Minister for Integration?

“It can’t be done - something like that would be possible in the US, for the Republican president to appoint a Democrat to be a Minister, but it can’t be done in Denmark.”

Why not?

“We don’t live in the US”

Okay..?

“To be honest, the matter of integration is in need of us going beyond calling each other sheeps, goats and dangerous. It’s simply that which I feel - people need unity, cooperation and in the end, some form of national, bi-partisan agreement. It’s more important than party politics.”

And you say that you resist the Islamists because you know them?

“Yes, they need to get the thing they fear. They are the greatest enemy of integration, they are greater enemies of integration than the Danish People’s Party. The Danish People’s Party are nothing compared to them. But it’s not enough to resist them - it’s also important to do something real for the integration. Look at the cooperation the Democratic Moslems have with employers - it shows that it can be done.”

It’s become an advantage to be a Democratic Moslem?

“Yes, to take an example, there’s a bank that has contacted us and said that they would like 50-100 new apprentices from the Immigrants’ millieu and we help them get them. As the leader of the Democratic Moslems I have had meetings with some of the biggest Danish companies who want to contribute. The fact that we have shown ourselves to be democrats means that we meet greater understanding. We’re also planning to do job-sites on our website. Before the Muhammed-conflict, employers were worried that employing Moslems would be problematic. But now we can tell the sheep from the goats among the Moslems.”

Do you think you’ll be Minister?

“I will turn down all other offers.”

Until it happens?

“Yes, I want to clean the place up. Because that’s what they fear the most because so much swindling, cheating and humbug is going on.”

Agrees with Fogh: Less religion

What kind of support have you received?

“The many thousands of letters from citizens have touched me deeply. And I have also received a lot of support from fellow politicians. Marianne Jelved (Note: Leader of the Social Liberals) has called, she was very worried. And it also impressed me that Fogh, in the middle of last week’s EU-summit, called me and spent half an hour supporting me. He caught me on my cell phone - all I said was that I needed some breathing space to reconsider my priorities. I didn’t say that I wanted to leave politics.”

So you didn’t consider leaving politics, you were thinking of the opposite, to become a Minister?

“Yes, and I mean it. That is my goal. It may be that some won’t like it. But I am my own best advisor, because I have a project for life now and that is to fight those intolerant Islamists. I am so tired of them -they and their big beards make me want to vomit and then they issue a fatwa that you can’t shave. Many of the refugees from Iran fled those things - and then we have to face it here again. Their goal is to impose Sharia on Moslems in the West. And the motto of the Salafists is - and in Arabic it sounds almost poetic: Allah is our goal, the Koran is our law, Jihad is our way and death as a martyr our highest aspiration. That’s the motto and that’s why they need to be fought to last fucking Democrat.”

Is it out of the question to make the Democratic Moslems a political party?

“Yes.”

Why?

“The political is not the primary thing in the Democratic Moslems. On the board are people from several different parties. The primary goal is to spread Democracy among Moslems. And to do everything to draw away the marginalised Moslems from the Islamists and to include them in Danish society. That’s also why I don’t like defining myself by my religion - I agree with Fogh that religion has too big a place in the public space and I disagree totally with Haarder’s wish for more religion. So, no, Democratic Moslems will not become a political party. Even though I am sometimes frustrated, I feel more at home with the Social Liberals. I have been a member for 22 years and I feel that my actions are in keeping with spirit of the brothers Brandes and Hørup.”

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.

Related posts:
A Prize Immigrant
Danish Imam Abu Laban knew about planned Martyr operation
Danish Imam Ahmed Akkari: Kill Naser Khader
Ahmed Akkari: Latest News

Danish Moslems: Arise and Protest

Feature article from Politiken, April 1st, 2006
By Ibrahim Ramadan

My religion is threatened in this country.

Not because I am a part of a Moslem minority in a Christian country. Not for lack of Mosques. And not by the Danish People’s Party and their stereotypical depiction of Moslems.

My religion is threatened by people who claim to belong to the same faith as I do. Threatened by organisations such as Hizb-ut-Tahrir and by people such as Ahmed Akkari, Abu Laban and Raed Hlayhel who all claim to work to spread the word of God. In reality, they’re working towards another goal entirely - to control what other Moslems should believe, think and do.

Some Moslems in Denmark have accepted the Danish Imams’ words and take strong exception to Naser Khader. They think he has sold out the Arab cultural heritage and that he’s shed Moslem values to become accepted by the Danes.

But what few Moslems in Denmark understand is that Naser Khader more than any other works to ensure that we qua Moslems are seen as assets and aren’t looked down upon as a problem in Denmark.

Is it really so heretical when Naser Khader dares say that to achieve that, we Moslems must embrace Democracy and Freedom of Speech and that it must mean that we reconsider some things in our cultural and religious background.

Lately this had some inhuman consequences for Naser Khader and his family. Some fanatical fellow Moslems have tried to threaten him into silence because they would rather not have other Moslems critically analyze the context in which our religion is seen.

But it’s time that we - the great silent majority of Moderate Moslems in Denmark - let our voice be heard and take our watch as champions of Democracy. We can’t let Naser Khader carry that burden by himself.

Because what we are witnessing at this moment in Denmark, of all things resembles most an inquisition, one which doesn’t leave out much from the horrors the unorthodox thinkers of the Christian world had to go through during the Middle Ages. In the year 2006, Moslems who don’t approve of authoritarian Islam are condemned as heretics with no right to call themselves Moslems.

Many of those who like Naser Khader champion the idea of integration of Islam and Moslems are marked by co-religionists as bad Moslems. But how did we freethinking Moslems allow this to happen?

“Read!”, was the first word of God which was revealed to the prophet Muhammed in the 7th century. But what we as Moslems do in the 21st century is the direct opposite.

Instead we turn off our brains and let ourselves be dictated to by people who call themselves religious scholars and who claim that only their interpretation of Islam is the right one.

What they omit to say out loud is that they have another agenda: to transform our religion into a political movement. The French documentary about the Danish Imams proved to be a frightening example of that.

As Moslems in Denmark we have a unique opportunity which isn’t given to our Brothers and Sisters in most of the Islamic world. We have every opportunity to get an education. For free. We’re even being paid to educate ourselves.

There is therefore no excuse in Denmark for not using the opportunities we have to seek knowledge. Here we are allowed critical questions and here we have a constitutionally secured right to speak our mind.

If we don’t use that opportunity - well, we’ll be doing the opposite of what god dictated to us. And that makes our future prospects frightening.

Not only will that entail that we as Moslems close in around ourselves, isolate ourselves from the society in which we live and passively let ourselves be led in chains back to the Dark Ages. It will also entail that we increasingle will be hated because of the words and actions which are practiced in the name of Islam without protests from us.

Naser Khader has long been a single lighthouse, leading the way in the dark, while many of us who either came by ourselves or are descendants of those who came here looking for a better life for too long have acted as if Democracy and Freedom are a matter of course which places no demands on our persons.

But its time for us Moslems to choose sides. Do we want to live in this country with all that that entails of Freedoms, opportunities and Rights - or do we really want that the intolerance, the dictatorship and the limitation of the personal freedom which we have left must also be part of our lives in the country we’ve come to?

If the latter is the case, we must take the consequence and go home the the poor neighborhoods, the refugee camps or the persecution which most of us left but which many - of both the first and the second generation - apparently have a tendency to remember in a softer light.

But if the former is the case, if we as Moslems really want this country and its principles, we’ll have to wholeheartedly and unambigously say, in a way which will leave noone in doubt, that those who speak for intolerance and fundamentalism have only a small following among Moslems in Denmark.

I clearly remember my time at the University of Cairo in the 1980s. Then there was also a small group of Islamists who tried to terrorise all of us who had an ordinary, relaxed attitude to the religion. Islamists crashed parties, destroying everything because there was music and dancing. Young men and women who were seen holding hands were beaten, humiliated and portrayed as amoral. And those who who dared criticise the actions of the Islamist students were beaten brutally.

At the end of the 80s and the start of the 90s, the Islamists took to more drastic measures. Primitive nail-bombs in the metro, in cafés and outside schools in Cairo.

Innocent children, women and men were were killed and mutilated. They were almost all of them Moslems. But for the Islamists, the goal sanctified the means and the killing of innocents was the price to pay to overthrow the ‘infidel’ governments of the Middle East in favor of the ‘true’ Islamic state.

In the years following, the Islamists’ fight was escalated to a head-on confrontation with the intellectuals who dared speak out against them. The chairman of the Egyptian parliament was mowed down with a machine gun. He had worked dilligently to modernise the Egyptian divorce laws, which had till then been run by the Sharia principle.

The aging Egyptian nobel prize winner of literature, Nagib Mafouz, was stabbed in the street. He had dared speak against fundamentalism in his hard-hitting columns.

The writer Faraq Fouda was shot dead outside his office. In books and in a debate programme he had dared suggest seperating church and state in Egypt.

The argument the Islamists made in all three cases was that they were apostates or bad Moslems who deserved death for their heretical thoughts.

We, the majority, who opposed the Islamists strongly, chose to stay silent. We bowed our heads and went about our lives out of fear of suffering the same fate. But we were many who had clouded consciences because we didn’t speak up in time.

While the Islamists were spewing hate, violence, fear and chaos, their organisations ran and organised a number of charities, free clinics, feeding the poor, school projects in blighted neighbourhoods and more. Projects which helped where the government failed and created an enormous amount of goodwill among the poorest and least educated.

But Islamism always has two faces - a mild and caring one which claims to be the protector of the poor and the true guardian of Islam and another, which in ideological phrases open to interpretation preach hate and violence, murder for the infidels and the overthrow of existing society.

That is why it is uncanny to see that the same methods employed by the Islamists in the Middle East in the 1980s and which were used to spread terror in the United States, in Madrid and in London are also being used by Imams here in Denmark.

They’re speaking with forked tongues - on one hand, the impression is conveyed that all they want to do is help those who can’t help themselves. On the other, thunderous hate speeches and calls for defending the Prophet, Islam and the Moslems in terms that by the wrong kind of people can easily be seen as a call for Holy War and killings, securing the high status of Martyr.

But the most uncanny thing is that the same unwillingness to stand up and protest this abuse of the religion which I saw in the Egypt of my youth, is predominant among the majority of Moslems in Denmark today.

The Imams who went to the Middle East with the single purpose of arousing the wrath of the Islamic World under cover of defending the Prophet have too long been allowed to be seen as representing the Moslem majority and portray all who disagree with them as deviants.

Naser Khader and the people who’ve supported his union of Democratic Moslems are generally spoken of by these Imams and their supporters as bad Moslems, as rats, as apostates, even atheists who one should warn one’s children, friends and co-religionists against associating with.

To be an apostate is one of the worst things to be in Islam. Something which is comparable to a brand, which gives every true Moslem the right to murder the apostate. So accusing the protesting moderate Moslems of being apostates is a method which makes most keep their protests low profile.

Several members of Democratic Moslems have received death threats, have been spit upon by Moslem ‘brothers’ and have been threatened to be excluded from their Moslem communities if they don’t distance themselves from Naser Khader and the cause he champions. And in the long run, the most dangerous thing about the Muhammed crisis is the consequences it will have for how we as Moslems associate with each other and our fellow Danish citizens in the future.

It’s hard to explain to people who haven’t lived in the Middle East how liberating it is to live in a country such as Denmark. A country where you’re free to say whatever you like, read whatever you like, act however you like, believe whatever you like and join any organisation or party with no repercussions for your life, career or family. But some seem to want to deny us Moslems that right and therefore we must now stand together and denounce these Men of Darkness.

The vast majority of us, the almost 200,000 Moslems in Denmark, have a relaxed and moderate attitude to our religion. Most of us have been passively observing during the Muhammed crisis, many have - rightly so - felt offended by the cartoons’ defamation of the Prophet. But few have realised that it isn’t the caricatures but those who have wielded them as a lever who threaten our religion.

It time for us to choose our sides. Will we as Moslems silently keep accepting that a herd of power-hungry people have taken Islam and the World as fearsome hostages? Or do we want to take back our religion and our right to practice it and live in peace and harmony with the surrounding world?

Our Prophet is not diminished by a handful of caricatures. But we are diminished and crippled as human beings by the hate the fanatics have tried to instill into us as a consequence of the cartoons.

The tone of the immigration debate may be hard and degrading. But have we ourselves done enough to abolish the stereotypical image of Islam as a religion of hate and the image of Moslems as people who have no wish to integrate into and much less accept the West which is persecuting us?

To become accepted and integrated in this country first and foremost demands that we as Moslems must stop pretending we are victims. Though we may be the victims of prejudices, they are prejudices which some Moslems by their behaviour have helped create and they are prejudices which all the rest of us with our passivity and lack of protests have helped keep alive.

The image of Moslems we thus help solidify is far worse than anything the Danish People’s Party have ever said.

To do well in Denmark has as a precondition that the rules of the land are supported - to educate yourself and play an active role in the community and the debate and to not only take from, but also give something back to society.

And to do that, you can’t just watch from the sidelines when someone tries to reintroduce the abrogation of our personal freedom and our freedom of speech which I think all of us left behind with a sigh of relief in the countries we once considered home.

There’s only one solution for us Moslems — use the first words that were revealed by God to the Prophet: Read! Study, be critical and take exception to those who abuse Islam.

And get out of your couch, participate actively in the Democracy because it’s not something that is just given to you along with your Danish passport. Support Naser Khader as the man who is guarantor of us and our children living as an accepted and appreciated part of this country in the future. Help make sure that our children in the future with pride in their voices can say that they are Moslems.

As Moslems we have to loudly insist that religion for us is also a personal matter between ourselves and our God. It’s not the job of any earthly being to go around with a ruler, measuring who are bad and who are good Moslems.

That measurement only God can make on the day of judgement, where all of us will answer for our deeds.

DR Nyheder (from Arabic): “If he becomes the Minister for Foreigners or… Minister for Integration or for Foreigners… won’t two men come and blow up him and his Ministry?”
TV2 (subtitles, from Arabic): “If he becomes Minister for Integration, I wonder if two men won’t go and blow up him his Ministry?”
TV2 (from French): “If he becomes Minister for Integration, oughtn’t there be two who paid him a visit and blew up him and his Ministry?”
Jyllands-Posten(presumably from French): “If he becomes the Minister for Foreigners or Integration, oughtn’t one send out two guys to blow up him and his ministry?”
Ekstra-Bladet (incorrect headline): “Why don’t we blow up Nader?”

Finally, from the latest interview with Mohammed Sifaoui in Politiken:

I wonder if a couple of men oughn’t to go see if one can blow him up…

Personally, I tend to think the French journalist got it right - he reports that he used three different Arab translators from Lebanon, which is where Ahmed Akkari is from. Akkari clearly (in jest or otherwise) considers Naser Khader such a menace that he wouldn’t mind if he was blown up.

That out of the way, the latest news in Ahmed Akkari’s case is this:

Saturday, March 25 in the 22:30 edition of the Deadline programme on DR, Ahmed Akkari was interviewed about the case. Having finished a repeat of his non-excuse for calling for the death of a Danish elected parliamentarian, the interview proceeded:

INTERVIEWER: What are you ging to do - you’ve already done something - but what more do you want to do to reassure Naser Khader?
AKKARI: I think I am going to write a letter and address it to him personally - more in person than the open letter I’ve written. But people need not worry about this unproportionally and turn it into more than it is. Any person can, under some conditions, say saomething that one doesn’t have intent of doing or mean in the same way. It was presented in the studio as if I am saying tyhat someone should go get him, but I think what I perhaps thought or expressed was that if he gets that ministry, if he isn’t going to get enough problems with what will follow from that in the form of critique. That may have been said in a way that was very unfortunate and which has resulted in this.
INTERVIEWER: I’d like to know — Earlier today I talked to Fati el-Abed who is a cofounder of Democratic Moslems - he is functioning as a kind of spokesman for Naser Khader who right now has chosen to not talk to the press. I want you to hear what Fati el-Abed said:
Fati el-Abed: Naser Khader has does not wish - at all - to speak to Imam Akkari. Neither now nor later. The dangerous about Imam Akkari’s remarks is twofold: First, that it is not the first time he wishes for something like that. We don’t think this, we know this. Secondly, that he is influential, many look to him [for leadeship], many listen to him and that is why it is dangerous. And I hope he knows that.
INTERVIEWER: Ahmed Akkari, that was three significant items. One, that Naser Khader doesn’t want to know of you, he doesn’t want you to contact him. Two, that you, apparently, on an earlier occasion said something that Naser Khader sees as threatening. Three, that you have bigger influence - so he says - than many Danes know of, in the Moslem community. What say you?
AKKARI: About item number one, it is of course his choice. I only did it to try to reassure him.
INTERVIEWER: So you can live with the fact that Naser Khader wishes to have no contact with you?
AKKARI: Easily. I don’t think I will become more different.. or that something happens. It’s only for his sake, because I’ve heard he is depply shaken by something he need not be shaken about. About item number two, I haven’t heard about. You’re welcome to give me something to refresh my memory about this. About the last item, I would like to say that if Fati thinks people look to me [for leadership], and listen to me, I would like to say clearly that both for now and later, now that I have the chance, that I call for everyone to both not say such things [as I said], whether it be in jest or in earnest and we have nothing against saying that we have made an error. We aren’t holy men, come to earth to pass judgement. We are people just as everybody else. We have a role to play in a special situation to help people as Imams. But it’s OK to say that you’ve made a mistake and that people shouldn’t follow you in your errors.
INTERVIEWER: That remark, no matter how you interpret it, which you did make, was interpreted as if you don’t, at all, like a person such as Naser Khader. How do you view him? Is he dangerous for Islam?
AKKARI: No, we disagree with Naser Khader on very many points [of policy] and very many Moslems say “what is this? Why don’t we make a mass demonstration to show who our real champions are, here in Denmark.” So it’s one thing to disagree, it’s another thing entirely to be for violence. We’ve prosecuted this case through our lawyer, we’ve prosecuted it through the courts of law and through the political, you see? We wrote a letter to the Minister for Culture at the outset. And that shows that we understand perfectly who we are addressing in this cartoon affair, and I don’t think we are for any kind of violence. But allow me to point out in this context that it is really too bad that the only stories that are shown, when we finally get to see some stories about this, is stories like this one. We’ve just been to the conference in Bahrain….
INTERVIEWER: We’ll return to that. I just want you to answer in short: Is Naser Khader dangerous for Islam?
AKKARI: I don’t fell he is dangerous for Islam because Islam is bigger than Naser Khader, than me, than anyone else. It is Islam which gives space, it is not Islam which is given space. All cases have shown that Islam turns out to be the one that is bigger and to which people give themselves. We are person, who can act in the one way or the other, do right or wrong. I think Naser Khader should reevaluate some of his opinions and harsh criticisms, because I really think he is being used. I think he is being used…..
INTERVIEWER: Is he a puppet, is that what you say?
AKKARI: In a way he is, some people are trying to evade something here.
INTERVIEWER: Who?
AKKARI: There are several parties that carry a responsibility in this affair, the least of which is not Jyllands-Posten who right now, is made out to be a completely innocent party from whom nothing is demanded as much….
INTERVIEWER: Are you sayin that he is channeling them?
AKKARI: No, not in that way, but we have several parties in this. The main parties have been the newspaper, the government and us as a third party. We have tried many things, the latest of which was at the conference in Bahrain, with good results… partially good results. The government has been very delayed in its action. And then there’s Jyllands-Posten which does not respond in any real way, in a way that would help. We’ve seen Arla, who’ve been in the Middle-East for forty years, who’ve never been addressed as second-rate citizens in any way. And it’s opinions like that we need to hear because everyone needs to carry their proper share of responsibility in this society.

He then went on a whine-binge, whining about how unfairly he’s been treated. My stomache wasn’t up for translating and transcribing that.
On March 25, it was also annnounced that the two Danish Imams would be questioned Monday, March 27.
Come March 27 at 10 O’Clock, Imam Ahmed Akkari was questioned by the Danish police with the rights of an accused. No formal indictment was presented. Per Larsen of the Copenhagen Police said:

Wheather it is punsihable or not, investigating this may have a good, old-fashioned preventive effect. It’s an important signal to send. It seems positively absurd to have thoughts like that. That’s why it is useful to debate this. Whether the charges can bear an indictment the investigation will have to show.

That was the state of things Monday. You might’ve thought it wise to keep your trap shut if you were Ahmed Akkari, but unfortunately for Ahmed Akkari, you’re not. This Wednesday he suffered another “misstatement” when he told Al Arabia that the Danish Foreign Ministry has prohibited the Imams from speaking out about the conference in Bahrain they recently attended. From TV2 Nyhederne, Wednesday, playing a clip from Al Arabia, translated from the subtitles:

We’ve just been questioned by the police and we weren’t indicted in connection with that. In Denmark we were prohibited from speaking about the conference. The Danish Foreign Ministry has prohibited everyone from speaking speaking about the conference before an official translation of the conference’s conclusions is available.

In the same segment Danish Foreign Minister Per Stig Møller, speaking from the Faroe Islands, denies the truthfulness of that:

It’s pure rubbish. I don’t know of anything of the sort. We aren’t in contact with and we haven’t been in contact with the travelling Danish Imams. So I don’t understand that he said this to Al Arabia

Ahmed Akkari responds:

I think it was said in the wrong way. What I wanted to say was that this subject isn’t discussed in Denmark. I’ve asked Al Arabia to issue a correction.

The Spokesman on Foreign Issues for the Liberal Party, Jens Hald Madsen comments:

Honestly, I think we are all of us getting tired with Akkari’s frequent lies. I think the people and the media ought to just ignore him in the same way all other village idots are ignored.

This is a translation of an interview Mohammed Sifaoui did yesterday with Politiken. Sifaoui is the French Journalist who did a documentary exposing the Danish Imams Ahmed Akkari and Abu Laban as dangerous extremists:

French Journalist: Danish Imams are Extremists

The man behind the controversial French documentary thinks that Abu Laban and Ahmed Akkari are extremists disguised as moderates.

By Thomas Lauritzen, Paris

He is rather reluctant to say the words because he has the greatest respect for the Danes - but Mohammed Sifaoui feels that it is necessary to tell us that we are “naive”.

“All you good and well-meaning people at Politiken, in the rest of Denmark and Europe, you hurt your and moderate Moslems’ cause when you let extremists call the tune,” he says.

“They’re not bombers - they’re worse”
And for Sifaoui there’s no doubt the Danish Imams such as Ahmed Akkari and Abu Laban are just that, extremists but disguised as moderates.

“Actually, I was sort of seduced by Abu Laban the first day. He seemed both friendly and tolerant. But it was lucky that I stayed with them for some days, because then all of the extremist ideology was revealed,” Sifaoui says about his travels in Denmark this February which, i.a., revealed Ahmed Akkari’s famous ‘bomb threat’ against the Social Liberal politician Naser Khader.

“I have never suggested that Abu Laban or Ahmed Akkari are terrorists themselves - in the sense that they’re bombers. They’re something much worse: They’re the the ideologues which give the young mad-man the necessary excuse - the ideological grounds - for carrying out an act of terror in Denmark.”

Lives with Death Threats
The Algerian-French journalist and writer Mohammed Sifaoui has spent 18 years revealing and criticising the extremist movements which in his opinion slowly but surely have infiltrated a naive Europe.

He hasn’t been lacking in death threats. He lives under police guard and our meeting at a Parisian café is set up at the last minute.

“I do know with who I am dealing. I know the millieu and take my precautions,” as he says.

A Man with a Mission
Sifaoui is both loathed and admired, a controversial man with creative journalistic methods who refuses to be afraid. He doesn’t hide that he is a man with a mission.

“I have never wanted to condemn or hurt anyone and I have never attacked the Koran or Islam. I am a practising Moslem myself. But I have a mission and it is journalistic: To reveal the truth about extremists and terrorists.”

But don’t they know this about you - why do they let you into their confidence and say that sort of thing in your presence?

“I didn’t mention my surname and nobody asked . My first name, Mohammed, is what everyone and his cousin is called in the Arab world and I also used a middle name. They accepted me as a ‘brother’”

Don’t you have any reservations about not presenting yourself as yourself?

“If I have to steal information, I will. I have no scruples about that with these people. Besides, they knew very well that I was a journalist.”

Has no Concrete Knowledge of an Attack
Why is it that they threatened you anyway in the end - as the documentary shows?

“A delegation of Imams arrived from Sweden and I think one of them recognised me. Then the threats came, warning me to not show anything creative. And that’s the point: How can those people say that they are democrats and moderates? They threaten a journalist just because they find out that he’s against terror and extremism.”

There’s been some confusion in Denmark about the interpretation of what you’ve filmed. For example, whether Ahmed Akkari had concrete knowledge of a possible plot against Naser Khader?

“I have never thought he was talking about organising an attack himself and that’s not the way my documentary portrays it. He says ‘I wonder if a couple of men oughn’t to go see if one can blow him up…’ I have no knowledge of a concrete plot. But I know for sure that Akkari and Abu Laban hate Naser Khader abysmally. If someone were to kill him, it wouldn’t bother them the least.”

The Conversation about the ‘Martyr Operation’
Now you’ve also supplied an outtake to the Danish media where Abu Laban apparently speaks of his knowledge of someone who want so create ‘havoc’ and execute a ‘martyr operation’. Why didn’t you use that in your documentary?

“I brought 40 hours of tape to France and I couldn’t use all of it. I don’t know who he’s talking about either. And I have no precise information that this person will do something concrete.”

It seems strange that Abu Laban in the same outtake mentions that he - or someone - wants to contact the General Secretary of the the Arab League. He isn’t a terrorist, I wonder?

“No, the two remarks are seperate, the way I see it. First Abu Laban speaks of Amr Moussa and then he changes the subject and speaks of the martyr operation.”

Ready to supply outtakes
What does it mean? And why are you showing it now?

“Because it shows the same as the piece in the car with Akkari: that these people are extremists who have no problem talking abour martyr operations.”

Abu Laban says it’s just a figure of speech?

“Of course he says that. And Ahmed Akkari is suddenly a great comedian. It’s very normal double-dealing for the extremists that they hide behind explanations like that in the West. But as an Arab and a Moslem I can assure you that no normal person in the Moslem world sees the word ‘martyr operation’ as a figure of speech.”

Are you prepared to show more outtakes?
“Yes, if they keep saying it was all a joke, just a figure of speech and so on. In that case, I have loads of material showing that that is their normal rhetoric. ”

For example?
“For example I have a take from a sermon where Abu Laban tells of how to behave when burying ‘our brothers who die a martyr’s death in the fight against the zionist enemy.’ Will Abu Laban say that that too is a metaphor? And do the Danes really believe a man who supports suicide bombers in another country but maintains that he is against them in Denmark?”

The Police have questioned Akkari and Abu Laban and not yet indicted them. Do you know anything more concrete about their intentions?

“I have no precise knowledge of concrete plans. If I had heard anything like that, I would have gone directly to a police station. If the Danish police wish to talk to me, if I can be of assistance, I am always available. I am a public person. But I really hope that the Danish intelligence service know significantly more about Abu Laban, Ahmed Akkari and their friends than I do.”

PIS are naive
On the contrary, a high-ranking commander with the Police Intelligence Service (PIS) has said that the Imams have often been helpful?

“That makes me smile. In that case, either the Imams of Denmark have succeded in hoodwinking the PIS and that would make the PIS would be very naive. Or else - and I think that’s the case - the PIS wants to pour oil on troubled waters, though they know otherwise.”

Why should we, the Danes, believe your account of this - a French journalist with a mission, a man who knows nothing of Denmark?

British journalists used to ask me the same question, right until the terror bombs in London in July of 2005. The same thing happened: the same ideological framework, created by spiteful speech, which led to the actions of some mad people. And the same thing happened with the murder of the director Theo Van Gogh in the Netherlands. That climate, that vulnerability has now been given to Denmark and all Danes abroad by Abu Laban and Ahmed Akkari.”

But what is the answer to the question: Why should we believe you?

The answer is that that’s up to you to decide. I am positive that the Danes are smart enough to form an opinion about this themselves. What I’m saying is: I mean you no harm. But others do because they think it will give them power in the Moslem community in Denmark. Did my visit harm you? No, the visit the Imams paid the Arab countries, spreading false, dangerous accusations about your country harmed you. They are the ones who owe an apology to the Danes. Not the Prime Minister and not Jyllands-Posten.”

What is your opinion of the Jyllands-Posten’s caricatures?

I am shocked by several of them as a Moslem. I don’t like them at all. But I will always defend the right of an artist to draw whatever he likes. That’s democracy for you. And that’s what Abu Laban and the others don’t understand.

{He’s doing everything to get contacts.}
{He’s contacted Amr Moussa and he means to wreak absolute havoc.}
{He wants to join the fray and turn it into a Martyr operation right now.}

Screenshot of Imam Abu Laban before entering the car where he spoke the words that already now spell the doom of his career as a spokesman for Moslems and a citizen of Denmark.

Danish Politicians are shocked.

Marianne Jelved of the Social Liberals:

I find it very unpleasant. Very unpleasant indeed. And I think that Abu Laban, if he wishes to remain in Denmark, ought to consider the rules here.

Helge Adam Møller of the Conservatives:

With 99 percent certainty it’s an act of terrorism to which we are referring. Because a martyr operation is to blow oneself and innocents sky high. Whether it’s in Denmark or someplace else, it’s equally serious. It’s innocents who are killed. He apparently knows something about that. If he hasn’t himself gone to the police, he incurs a colossal responsibility and he is in direct breach of Danish law.
[…]
With 99 percent certainty it’s an act of terrorism to which we are referring. Because a martyr operation is to blow oneself and innocents sky high. Whether it’s in Denmark or someplace else, it’s equally serious. It’s innocents who are killed. He apparently knows something about that. If he hasn’t himself gone to the police, he incurs a colossal responsibility and he is in direct breach of Danish law.

Pia Kjærsgaard of the Danish People’s Party:

I have come to think that all of these more or less festering persons from the Islamic Faith Community should be interrogated, all of them, by the police naturally, and that this matter must be thoroughly investigated because it sounds very scary. And that isn’t something we as politicians should let pass by. Therefore I will talk to the Justice Minister and inquire as to the reaction to this and get her to step in.

Direct link to News footage which is transcribed and translated below. Link to article that describes the news clip.

Note: I plan to post updates below this and just push the transcript lower and lower.
UPDATE 1 MARCH 25 00:52 CET
Photographs of Abu Laban:
Abu Laban at home
Abu Laban preaching. Subtitles say: “These people I call rats in holes.” From this article. The ‘rats’ are Naser Khader and Ayaan Hirsi Ali.
Abu Laban looking smug at a press conference
Abu Laban captured by Mohammed Sifaoui’s hidden camera at home
Abu Laban preaching again. Pointy fingers.

UPDATE 2 MARCH 25 01:07 CET
Gateway Pundit reminds me of his dossier on Abu Laban. Excerpts:

Entertained the “Blind Sheikh” behind the first World Trade Center attacks

Praised Osama Bin Laden after 9-11 Attacks

Preached he “Shed no tears” after 9-11 Attacks

Accused of giving Political support to Osama bin Laden’s network

Accused of giving Financial support to Osama bin Laden’s network

Joined with 225 Islamic Radicals to form Global Jihadist Group in 2003

Said that Theo van Gogh - “Had it coming!”

Called on his flock to Give Their Lives to Global Jihad for Palestinians

Met with Sheikh Qaradawi in Saudi Arabia who has legalized the murder of American soldiers in Iraq

Much more at Gateway Pundit

UPDATE 3 MARCH 25 01:42 CET
Killgore Trout remarks at LGF that he’s still a little unclear about what the quote means. Mohammed Sifaoui explains (from the transcript):

{I didn’t use that piece in my documentary because we assesed -}
{- that we didn’t have enough details to know of whom he was talking -}
{- and whether the operation was to take place in Denmark or somewhere else.}
{But I am convinced that he was speaking of someone -}
{- who was ready to execute a suicide operation.}

Amr Moussa is the Chairman of the Arab League.

—————–
Transcript of DR news programme where Abu Laban talks about his terror ties.

Everything in [] is to describe the general environment of the transcript.
Everything in {} mean I’m translating from the subtitles. Each pair of {}s is a full translation of each subtitle.

[In news studio]

NEWS ANCHOR: Good evening, this is the late TV-Avisen, which will also take a look at this evening’s EU meeting in Brussels.
First, new accusations by the French TV journalist who infiltrated the Danish Imam environment. One of hisrecordings with a hidden camera reveals that Imam Abu Laban speaks of a person who, quoting: “Wants to wreak absolute havoc and conduct a Martyr-operation.” Danish Police plans to question Imam Abu Laban about that as soon as he return from a conference of Imams in Bahrain.

[cut to recording of Danish Imams. Imam Abu Laban in picture.]

MALE VOICE: Tuesday, February 21st this year. The Muhammed cartoons crisis is raging. Imam Abu Laban is on his way to a friend’s car outside Abu Laban’s mosque in Copenhagen’s North-West quarter. In the car is a French camera-man and Abu Laban knows that the camera-man doesn’t speak arabic. With a hidden camera, the camera-man records the two mens’ conversation.

[camera entering car. people speaking in unknown language, presumable Arabic.]

MALE VOICE: Suddenly Abu Laban starts speaking, with a lowered voice, of a man who has contacted the president of the Arab League, Amr Moussa.

ABU LABAN:
{He’s doing everything to get contacts.}
{He’s contacted Amr Moussa and he means to wreak absolute havoc.}
{He wants to join the fray and turn it into a Martyr operation right now.}

[Picture cuts to Abu Laban’s office. Picture of Mohammed Sifaoui in lower right corner. He’s speaking to DR’s TV-Avisen by phone from Paris]
[Text in yellow box says: “Mohammed Sifaoui
TV-Journalist, Paris]

Mohammed Sifaoui:
{He says, quoting:}
{”He wants to blow everything up. He wants to commit a Martyr assassination.”}
{To be exact: a Martyr-operation. I.e. a suicide operation.}

[Picture changes to Abu Laban preaching in a mosque]

[Picture changes to archive footage of Mohammed Sifaoui]

MALE VOICE: The journalist Mohammed Sifaoui for four days followed the doings of a number of Danish Imams with a camera man and used his hidden footage for a documentary.

[Picture changes to hidden footage of Ahmed Akkari in a car with Hlayhel.]

MALE VOICE: The piece with Abu Laban wasn’t used for the documentary.

[Text in yellow box says: “Mohammed Sifaoui <line break> TV-Journalist, Paris]

Mohammed Sifaoui:
{I didn’t use that piece in my documentary because we assesed -}
{- that we didn’t have enough details to know of whom he was talking -}
{- and whether the operation was to take place in Denmark or somewhere else.}

[Picture cuts to archive footage of recently ended conference in Bahrain]

Mohammed Sifaoui:
{But I am convinced that he was speaking of someone -}
{- who was ready to execute a suicide operation.}

[Picture cuts to Abu Laban leaving his office.]

MALE VOICE: According to the French journalist it isn’t possible that this is jest.

Mohammed Sifaoui:
{No, no, no. This is very definitely not a jest, because this is a very serious situation.}

[Picture cuts to Abu Laban in car. Back of front seat in view.]

MALE VOICE: Let’s take a look at the piece again.

Abu Laban:
{He’s doing everything to get contacts.}
{He’s contacted Amr Moussa and he means to wreak absolute havoc.}
{He wants to join the fray and turn it into a Martyr operation right now.}

[Picture cuts to DR’s TV-Avisen cutting room]

Kristian Sloth: We would have liked to ask Abu Laban who the person who want to wreak absolute havoc and conduct a martyr operation is, but he has told us, from Bahrain, that he doesn’t wish to speak to us.

[Picture cuts to still image of of Copenhagen’s Police Departments’ central station.]

MALE VOICE: Chief Inspector Per Larsen of the Copenhagen police department says in a statement tonight: “The information from the new recordings made with a hidden camera will cause Abu Laban to be taken in for questioning.

[Picture cuts to Abu Laban preaching in a mosque]

MALE VOICE: Abu Laban will return from Bahrain in the forenoon tomorrow.

[cuts to news studio]

NEWS ANCHOR: Danish politicians are shocked and Pia Kjærsgaard now demands that Justice Minister Lene Espersen take action.

[Picture cuts to hidden footage of Abu Laban]

Claus Letort: Politicians at Christiansborg, to say the least, do not like the new recordings of the Imam Abu Laban, who lives in Denmark.

[cuts to Christiansborg (Danish Parliament building)]

Marianne Jelved (Social Liberals): I find it very unpleasant. Very unpleasant indeed. And I think that Abu Laban, if he wishes to remain in Denmark, ought to consider the rules here.

[Picture cuts to place in front of Christiansborg]

Helge Adam Møller (Conservatives): He is a man, a man like Akkari, a man who cannot be trusted. A man who speaks with a forked tongue.

[Picture cuts to Abu Laban in car. Back of front seat in view.]

MALE VOICE: It’s these words said by Abu Laban, recorded with a hidden camera, that cause the politicians to be shaken.

Abu Laban:
{He’s doing everything to get contacts.}
{He’s contacted Amr Moussa and he means to wreak absolute havoc.}
{He wants to join the fray and turn it into a Martyr operation right now.}

MALE VOICE: Even though we do not know of whom Abu Laban is speaking and where the martyr operation is supposed to happen, the politicians do not like the sound of things.

[Picture cuts to place in front of Christiansborg]

Helge Adam Møller (Conservatives): With 99 percent certainty it’s an act of terrorism to which we are referring. Because a martyr operation is to blow oneself and innocents sky high. Whether it’s in Denmark or someplace else, it’s equally serious. It’s innocents who are killed. He apparently knows something about that. If he hasn’t himself gone to the police, he incurs a colossal responsibility and he is in direct breach of Danish law.

[Picture cuts to Christiansborg]

MALE VOICE: One can’t discern the context of this and one can’t discern of whom he is talking and so on. So we have to take care not to over-react, don’t we?

Marianne Jelved (Social Liberals): That’s true. But nevertheless, there is wording here that clearly indicates we’re talking of martyrs, i.e. a suicide bomber of some kind. If Abu Laban knows something of that, I think it’s the Police Intelligence Service, it’s the Danish Police that needs to take action. Quickly.

[Picture cuts to Abu Laban speaking to Mohammed Sifaoui]

MALE VOICE: Abu Laban has told TV-Avisen that he doesn’t wish to comment on the matter.

[Cuts to Pia Kjærsgaard’s home]

Pia Kjærsgaard (Danish People’s Party): I have come to think that all of these more or less festering persons from the Islamic Faith Community should be interrogated, all of them, by the police naturally, and that this matter must be thoroughly investigated because it sounds very scary. And that isn’t something we as politicians should let pass by. Therefore I will talk to the Justice Minister and inquire as to the reaction to this and get her to step in.

First, the good stuff. I bring you blasphemy. This satirical cartoon was published this Tuesday, March 21 on the last page of Berlingske Tidende’s first section.

Now, for some reason, this piece of satire has made some Moslems feel ‘disgruntled’. In the same way postal workers who are about to go postal are ‘disgruntled’, I imagine. Allow me to
translate. Note that Jyllands-Posten has a motto that goes: “Jyllands-Posten: Denmark’s International Newspaper”.

[white letters on blue background] Smear Street

[Caricature of Imam dragging a suitcase and carrying a white paper bag with “Tax-Free” written on it with taxfree bottles of an unidentified substance in it]

The trip goes to….
Itinerary for the Danish Imams’ trip to the conference in Bahrain:

Buy some Bahrain-clothes at the airport at the last moment in case some Bahrain-weather is coming up.

Remember to turn back the clocks 632 years before landing.

Orientation about the Crown’s Prosecutor who refuses to flog the Prime Minister and burn Jyllands-Posten down to the ground.

Following a short round of misinformation, the book “French Clowns in Colours” will be distributed to the 300 other delegates - it is known to usually make Denmark’s International Newspaper even more known abroad.

Possibly catch halal an hour of shut-eye before departure.

Today the Prime Minister refused to give his opinion on whether Berlingske Tidende has overstepped the bounds of “demonisation” of religions. Quoting and translating the last part of this article from B.T.:

The Prime Minister has as one of his few areas of responsibility the Press, yet Anders Fogh Rasmussen states to Ritzau’s Bureau that he has no opinion on whether Berlingske Tidende in the name of fun has overstepped the bounds of “demonisation” of religions.

“I refuse to enter that fray. What you’re asking only emphasises that it’s wise to stick to what’s true in a state founded on the rule of law, i.e. that we have a very far-reaching Freedom of Speech. The law defines some boundaries and if anyone thinks those boundaries have been crossed, it’s a matter for the courts and certainly not for the Government and the Prime Minister,” Anders Fogh Rasmussen says.

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Imam Ahmed Akkari has issued death threats against Naser Khader of the Social Liberals. Naser Khader founded the organisation “Democratic Moslems” in February, as an organisation for moderate, Democracy-minded Moslems to join. See this article for biography and background on the enmity between Naser Khader and the Imams in Denmark.

Today Jyllands-Posten reports that Imam Ahmed Akkari was recorded on a hidden camera by journalist Mohamed Sifaoui of the French TV-Station France 2 which will show a documentary tonight detailing the doings of the Danish Imams. The documentary also reveals that the Danish Imams have been using the affair as a lever to go against their political opponents in Denmark.
Ahmed Akkari is quoted as saying:

If [Naser Khader] becomes the Minister of Foreigners or Integration, why don’t we send out two guys to blow up him and his ministry?

The Danish reaction to this has been consternation and revulsion.
Peter Skaarup of the Danish People’s Party:

It’s pure threats and it only goes to show how crazy these Imams have been acting. I will at once ask the Minister what punishment can be given for making such statements and whether it is a punishable offense,

Jens Rohde of the Liberals:

This is certainly very disturbing and it shows what we’re up against. That’s also why I am worried about what is happening at that conference in Bahrain which Ahmed Akkari is a delegate to

Ahmed Akkari denies:

I’ve never said anything like that about Naser Khader, but they are welcome to try and prove it

UPDATE 1
Politiken reports that Elsebeth Gerner Nielsen of the Social Liberals has reported Imam Ahmed Akkari to the police:

The police must investigate whether the French documentary checks out and whether things are as Jyllands-Posten says. If they are, that statement deserves the harshest condemnations.
[…]
I feel very sorry for my colleague and his family . It’s absolutely horrible that he has to live with threats of murder and must be guarded by the police.

The police say that an inquiry is under way:

From what we know so far, it is relevant to start an inquiry.
[…]
[whether it is punishable] depends on under what circumstances the statement was made. And whether they create real fear and discomfort. The fact that the threats are now being quoted in the media is also relevant.

The police in Berlingske Tidende:

We’re investigating whether there is grounds for prosecuting him for these threats. We need to find out what kind of documentation the journalists have and we need to talk with the persons involved.

Ahmed Akkari now calls it a “joke”:

If they think I have said that, then I must have been jesting.
[…]
You also need to understand, from the context, that I wa