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Germany Mulls Spying on all Mosques
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Schily
called for cracking down on "hatred-inciting" imams.
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By
Ahmad Al-Matboli, IOL Correspondent
VIENNA,
July 18, 2005 (IslamOnline.net) – German Interior Minister Otto
Schily said Monday, July 18, the government is considering placing all
mosques under scrutiny through closed-circuit TV cameras.
Schily,
in an interview with Der Spiegel magazine, said German Muslims
should prevent those he termed as hatred-inciting imams from taking
the pulpit.
His
remarks echoed those of Bavarian Interior Minister Guenther Beckstein
who proposed on Saturday, July 16, planting spies inside mosques,
censoring sermons and monitoring Muslim organizations using tiny
cameras.
In
statements published by Frankfurter Rundschau newspaper,
Beckstein said state security services should have free hand in
dealing with Islamic organizations that prefer their religion to the
country’s constitution.
He
further called for dialogue with moderate Muslims, asking the minority
to publicly denounce violence in all its forms before such a dialogue.
The
anti-Muslim rhetoric was fueled by the London blasts that targeted
three underground stations and a double-decker bust on Thursday, July
7, killing at least 55 people.
British
police said four young British-born Muslims, three of them of
Pakistani origin, carried out the grisly attacks, which drew immediate
condemnation of Muslim scholars worldwide.
Unacceptable
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Beckstein proposed planting spies inside mosques, censoring
sermons and monitoring Muslim organizations using tiny cameras.
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The
mooted restrictions on the Muslim places of worship, however, drew
diatribe from the Greens party, government officials and minority
leaders.
Greens
leader Claudia Ruth said it is embarrassing that the Beckstein’s
Christian Socialist party takes advantage of the London attacks for
electoral gains.
She
was referring to the expected early parliamentary elections in the
country, where right-wing parties are expected to play the terror card
to win votes.
After
his Social Democratic Party suffered defeat in state elections on May
22, German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder announced he wanted early
parliamentary elections.
German
President Horst Koehler will decide this week whether to dissolve
parliament, paving the way for early elections.
Jurg
Schoenbum, the Interior Minister of Brandenburg, also rejected spying
on Muslims at mosques, warning that it would mar ties with the
minority.
"Monitoring
the places of worship is totally unacceptable. Only suspicious places
should be dealt with by security agencies," he told Deutsche
Welle.
Nadeem
Elias, the chairman of the Supreme Council of Muslims in Germany, said
that such moves would undermine mutual confidence between Muslims and
the government.
Other
minority leaders warned that the anti-Muslim security would lay to
rest the earnest integration efforts made by the minority.
Qasem
Al-Shalabi, who liaises with German authorities on behalf of the Arab
minority, said such steps would curb personal and religious freedoms.
"Direct
dialogue is the best way in this respect," he told Deutsche
Welle.
"Rightists
are trying to associate Muslims with (terror) charges to restrict
their movement."
Shalabi
played down the government spying on Muslims, saying the minority has
been under close surveillance ever since the 9/11 attacks on the
United States.
Islam
comes third in Germany after Protestant and Catholic Christianity.
There
are some 3.4 million Muslims in the country, including 220,000 in
Berlin, and Turks make up an estimated two thirds of the Muslim
minority.
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