Greeks Rethink » discrimination

US State Department religious freedom report on Greece

Guest Author — Sat, 20 Nov 2010 23:04:41 +0000

by (ANA-MPA)

The burnt-out Jewish Synagogue in the old city of Chania, Crete, 25 January 2010. Two British men have been arrested and two Americans sought in connection with arson attacks on the medieval synagogue.

The country chapter on Greece in the US State Department’s Annual Report on International Religious Freedom notes that the Constitution provides for freedom of religion, and other laws and policies contributed to the generally free practice of religion. The Constitution establishes the Eastern Orthodox Church of Christ (Greek Orthodox Church) as the prevailing religion, but also provides for the right of all citizens to practice the religion of their choice.

According to the report, there was no change in the status of respect for religious freedom by the government, which generally respected religious freedom in practice, but noted that some religious groups faced administrative restrictions, such as permits for the establishment or operation of places of worship.

It also said there were multiple reports in the media of societal discrimination based on religious affiliation, belief or practice, and noted the arson attack against the Toxotes mosque in Thrace in September 2009, which Greek government officials condemned and installed new security cameras afterwards. Also referred to vandalism of the Sunni Mosque in Xanthi with graffiti in December 2009, to tombstones in the Muslim cemetery in Komotini in February 2010 and two arson attacks on the Jewish Synagogue, in Chania, Crete. It further noted a demonstration in May 2009 of approximately 1,000 Muslim migrants in Athens, protesting an incident in which a police officer allegedly damaged a copy of the Qur’an while performing an identity check.

Also, expressions of anti-Semitism continued to occur, particularly in the extremist press, the report said, and noted that in January 2010 an Athens court convicted the editor of an extremist magazine for distributing anti-Semitic leaflets in 2007.

The report further noted that Archbishop Ieronymos in May 2009 hosted Anglican leaders to discuss the importance of interfaith dialogue, societal challenges and cooperation on charity issues, while Greece’s minister of state inaugurated the Holocaust Monument in Athens in May.

Also, it said that leaders of many non-Orthodox religious groups reported that while the Orthodox Church seldom engaged in official contact with other religious groups, cordial private contacts between Orthodox Church officials and members of minority religious groups have increased in frequency, and Orthodox leaders attended ceremonies hosted by other religions, such as the Jewish community’s Holocaust Memorial Day and events during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.

Islamophobia’s injustice: a deadly double-standard

Anna — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 17:29:52 +0000

Read in Greek/Διαβαστε στα Ελληνικα

Source: Alarabiya.net

By Radwa Khorshid

Five years on, the Western media still frequently makes reference to what happened to the Dutch film director Theo van Gogh who was killed by Mohammed Bouyeri, a Dutch Muslim of Moroccan origin, three months after the release of van Gogh’s Submission 10-minute movie.

Focusing on the topic of violence against women in some Islamic societies and using Quranic verses unfavorable to women projected onto their bodies in Arabic flew a Muslim fury at the movie, which is seen by Muslims as “an offensive and provocative one.”

Boyeri was accordingly sentenced to life without parole. Of course I do not defend this 31-year-old youth whose crime is neither tolerable nor acceptable; but I have a point to make about Europe’s Islamophobia.

The charges by the prosecutor against him included the following statement:

“The defendant rejects our democracy. He even wants to bring down our democracy. With violence. He is insistent. To this day. He sticks to his views with perseverance. This calls for a strong response. By literally placing him outside our democracy.“

And yes, according to the European Court of Human Rights “the idea of freedom of expression has an essential role to play in a democratic society, helping to foster the development of an open, tolerant society in which human rights are respected.”

Let’s now recall another recent scenario that took place in a European courtroom where a three-month pregnant veiled mother, Marwa al-Sherbini, was stabbed 18 times to death by a German 28-year-old attacker, identified only as Axel W, who was “driven by a deep hatred of foreigners and Muslims,” according to a German official.

Axel W and Sherbini, an Egyptian living in Germany, were in court for the former’s appeal against a €750 fine for an insult to her headscarf, hijab, in 2008. Attempting to rescue his wife, Elwi Okaz — who was present with their child — was shot when a policeman opened fire in the courtroom. Okaz is now in a critical condition in hospital with an unpredictable future, whether dead or survived.

In Europe, the continent of freedoms and democracy, the hijab is still unacceptable by many Europeans, though, as a dress code for Muslim women, the hijab neither insults nor provokes others.

Sherbini’s mere crime was wearing the hijab and reporting a discriminatory act she faced, thus becoming a “terrorist” and deserving death — at least in Alex W’s eyes.

A few Western media outlets reported the case and referred to the murderer’s “hostile toward foreigners.”

With no purpose for raising any doubts about the German legal system and the way Dresden court, where Axel W is currently in custody, is dealing with the situation, German veiled Muslim women should now investigate into the death threat posed by any Islam- or veil-hater and call for safety procedures to follow.

It is not all about Muslims’ sympathetic attention given to Sherbini’s story; it is about the culture of accepting Islam and Muslims in Europe and the escalating Islamophobic trends towards Muslims and the veil.

According to a study conducted by the European Union Fundamental Rights Agency (FRA), 59 percent of European Muslims nowadays believe that Islamophobic and discriminatory actions against them have become part of their “normal everyday existence” thus “nothing would happen or change” if they report such incidents to authorities.

Scanning through the two European death tragedies (Van Gogh’s and Sherbini’s), one can easily realize the difference in the way and magnitude of coverage adopted by the western media towards the two incidents.

Van Gogh’s killer was identified days after his crime, and was described by the Western media as a “radical Muslim,” “terrorist” and “extremist.” The whole genealogic tree of Boyeri made the media headlines for months.

In incidents like that, Western media gives the green light to any related fact that would spark a venomous attack against Muslim communities in Europe and thus guarantee a special outcome.

I am not accusing the Western media of stirring debate against Islam and Muslims, as it’s not their fault only. It is a culture and will remain a culture unless positive official and unofficial steps are taken.

Dialogue to bridge this gap is an effective solution. Objective media coverage is another one. But justice is the pre-condition for all of this and it must prevail. Muslims in Europe should continue to report discrimination and Islamophobic incidents, seek their rights and fulfill their obligations, and make their voices heard.

* Written for AL ARABIYA. Radwa Khorshid is the editor of IslamOnline.net’s European Muslims section and travels frequently to Europe. She holds a bachelor of law from Cairo University.

Special report: Greek Parliament member pushes religious freedom for Muslims

Anna — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 21:25:31 +0000

Διαβάστε στα ελληνικά.

Parliament member Mr. Periklis Korovesis from the Syriza party lodged a formal question [about religious freedom] to the Greek Parliament, in particular the Ministers of Internal Affairs, Foreign Affairs, Education and Religions, National Defence. (Please view the seven questions at the end of this report.)

Subject: Muslim Cemetery and Mosque in Attica

In Athens, where 700 000 Muslims of all nationalities live, there is neither a mosque nor a Muslim cemetery, making Greece the only country in Europe that has not taken care of this. This practice opposes Article 13 of the Constitution and Article 9 of the European Convention for the Human Rights that clearly state “the freedom of religious conscience is unhindered”.

Understandably, the Muslims in Athens feel the sense of rejection as they have no ability to pray, get married, and have a funeral service with dignity. As a result, this brought the existence of over 50 unofficial praying places in the region, often located in undergrounds and garages.

Just recently, the Prefecture of Athens fined the owner of an underground building at Nea Ionia 60 000 euro and 30 000 euro because he used it as an unofficial mosque without special permission of a “bethel”, allowing Muslims of the area to pray there.

There were significant local protests from the immigrants who opposed the prefecture as well as Greek inhabitants and authorities, demonstrating on Saturday February 7^th at a massive movement in this small area (more than 1000 people) asking for a proper place to conduct religious tasks, which is a right registered by the constitution.

However, the decision of the prefecture and the reactions on behalf of the immigrants is not new. Thirty years have passed since the first claim in 1976 was lodged for building a mosque in Athens from the Arabic embassies, when all Greek governments projected several barriers in order not to proceed to its fulfillment.

Meanwhile, in other countries like Sweden, there are five mosques, 150 praying places and 10 Muslim cemeteries; in France there are 2000 praying places and 12 mosques when the cemeteries (except for one Muslim cemetery established in 1930) where it is obliged to have place of burying Muslims; in Norway (Oslo) the mosque was established in 1980, in Poland (Gtansk) in 1989, in Russia (Moscow) in 1912, in Scotland (Glascow) in 1983, in Portugal (Lisbon) in 1988, in Malta in 1978, in Ireland (Dublin) in 1978, in the UK there is the biggest Muslim cemetery in Europe and many mosques.

In 1983 the Greek state was committed to construct a mosque in Marousi, but this did not work due to the reactions of the local authorities. In 2000 the law 2833 was including the establishment if an Islamic Cultural Centre and Mosque in Peania with expenses that the Saudi Arabian Government would cover. This project was cancelled and in the very same place they realized that was already been built an orthodox church!

In October 2006 the Ministry of Education presented a draft law for building a mosque at Eleonas, a feasible project in harmony with the protected green of the area. The decision remained inapplicable because at the area that was given for the mosque is located navy base and the transfer of that means that 5 000 000 euro should be found. Although the Muslim Community was willing to offer that amount, this offer was not accepted, for it is the obligation of the Ministry of Defense to provide the funds to the Navy.

The Muslim Association of Greece sent a recent letter (27.01.09) to the Minister of Education and Religions asking to fulfil the governmental commitments and accusing the ministry’s palinodes twice for losing the necessary documents for the realization of this project.

Similar luck seems to have the permanent claim of the Muslims for the establishment of the Muslim cemetery in Athens, for which we have lodged a question (number of lodgment 1334/15.7.2009).

Despite of the bestowal of the field at the area of Schisto for the establishment, and the commitments of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs that was authorized as a coordinator of the engaged authorities, no procedure has proceeded. Hence, since the Muslims of Attica have no official mosque, nor a cemetery, nor a religious scholar who will be under a law to practice their religious rituals, they are forced to move their dead to Thrace or abroad with a huge economic cost for the family, that rates even 5000 euro (for Pakistan).

For the construction of the Muslim cemetery in Schisto, the Muslim Association of Greece has sent a letter again to the Minister of Internal Affairs on 27.01.2009, asking for intervention, as far as the bureaucratic procedures of the local authorities are concerned for the following reasons:

All these are unprecedented for an elemental democratic country and equals to “Islamophobia” and discrimination if the Islamic civilization;
The pertinacious non-immigration policy of the governments has created a suffocating place of living for Muslim immigrants and refuges that are in Greece, insulting fundamental and obvious human rights of every civilised country;
The immigration stream of the last decade has definitively changed the face and composition of the Greek society affecting even its deeper structures, transforming it to multicultural and religious differentiation, which in fact compels changes in point of vision, criteria and methods.

The ministers are asked:

What is the status of the procedures for the construction of the Eleonas mosque and what are the obstacles of moving the navy base, the cost of the moving etc.

Have the funds been found by the Ministry of National Defense for the move of the navy base from the area of Eleonas?

In which point are the procedures for the establishment of the Muslim cemetery in Shisto? Is the topographic survey of the area that was expected to be completed within a two months period starting from July 2008, according to the response that was given to us by the Deputy Minister of foreign affairs Theodoros Kassimis?

Has the transfer of the proprietary title of the area been made by the Church of Greece to the local authority in charge of the Muslim cemetery?

Are the procedures of the Ministry of Zoning and Public Works finished as concerning the zoning of the cemetery area?

How do they think to improve the conditions of religious freedom and equity, having in mind the condition that has prevailed in Greece and in Europe, in order to reduce the distance that separates our country from the rest of Europe?

Which constitutional preconditions they think to create will allow all religious communities to enjoy the internationally acknowledged equity of rights and parity for the religious rights?

Athens, March 26, 2009

Member of Parliament

Periklis Korovesis