13 November 2015

Copenhagen cuts ties with Muslim group

As previously warned, the City of Copenhagen has cut off ties with the Islamic Society in Denmark (Det Islamisk Trossamfund) for its involvement with a series of controversial figures.

City officials said on November 3rd that they would give the Muslim group’s representatives 30 days to condemn controversial statements made by some of the society’s members and associates.

The Islamic Society, however, made it apparent that there would be no such condemnation by threatening the city with legal action for “defamatory claims”.

On Thursday, the Copenhagen City Council voted 30-23 to pull the plug on official collaborations, which include a number of integration and anti-radicalization projects.

.... Among the city’s complaints with the Muslim group was its invitation earlier this year to British imam Haitham al-Haddad, who city officials say “accepts violence against women and believes that Jews are the descendants of pigs and apes”.

The Islamic Society said that those accusations were “unheard of and ungrounded” but media outlets have previously confirmed that Haddad called Jews “the enemies of God and the descendants of apes and pigs” in a 2001 sermon and a YouTube video appears to show al-Haddad justifying domestic violence as a private issue. [The Local] Read more