News and Analysis on Islam in Europe and North America
Two teachers and one supervisor at a Quran school in Borgerhout (Antwerp) have been sent to court on charges of child abuse, accused of having given a number of student corporeal punishment. The accused taught in a Quran school associated with the Bilal mosque. The investigation began in June 2006 after a complaint from the
A Paris court heard an appeal brought by Muslim groups against the satirical Charlie-Hebdo newspaper, which was acquitted last year of defamation charges following its publication of caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad. The groups, which included the fundamentalist Union of Islamic Organizations of France were seeking thirty thousand euro in damages. During the appeal proceedings
A lawyer for the American Civil Liberties Union asked a federal judge yesterday to declare unconstitutional a part of the Patriot Act that he says allowed a prominent Muslim scholar to be denied a visa. The lawyer, Jameel Jaffer, told Judge Paul A. Crotty of Federal District Court in Manhattan that the provision, allowing the
A nightly radio phone-in show in Paris has opened up a forum for French Muslim youth to ask questions about religious practice. The show is hosted by Ahmed el Keiy, a lawyer-turned-journalist, who invites imams to help answer questions a wide range of topics, from perfume and hair gel, to prayer. Citing a lack of
One of the suspects in the terrorism trial currently underway in Brussels has promised to tell the court the truth about his part in fighting with Al-Qaeda terrorists in Iraq. Prosecution investigators are convinced that Youness Loukili lost is leg while fighting for leading terrorist Al Zarqawi. Loukili however, denies having ever been to Iraq.