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| Europe |
| Muslim woman's veil case represents clash of values in Cunit, Spain |
| 2010-02-13 |
| But Cunit has gained a new distinction: It is famous in Spain as the town where a Moroccan-born Muslim woman with a master's degree and a head of curly hair says she was threatened by Muslim fundamentalists because she took off her veil and tried to live like a Spaniard. The treatment of Fatima Ghailan, 31, prompted an investigating magistrate to bring charges against the sheik of the local mosque, Mohamed Benbrahim, and the head of the Islamic Association, Abderraman el-Osri, the leading figures in Cunit's Muslim community. The case also generated demands for the resignation of Mayor Judit Alberich, a liberal Socialist who, her political opponents said, catered to her Muslim constituents at the expense of respect for the law. In many ways, Ghailan was an unlikely champion of assimilation when she arrived in Cunit as a teenager. Her father had been the sheik of a mosque in Morocco, and until recently, she dutifully wore a scarf. But things began to change several years ago. Ghailan received a master's degree in Barcelona, and before long she stopped wearing a scarf, letting her hair move freely. She began driving a car. Then she got a job at City Hall, assigned to work with the town's approximately 1,000 mostly Moroccan Muslims as a "cultural mediator." Her job was to encourage Muslims, particularly cloistered women, to participate in the life of the town, to take advantage of language classes and to leave their homes to attend festivals. Benbrahim organized a petition demanding Ghailan's firing. Ghailan said the dispute soon escalated; she lodged a formal complaint against Benbrahim in November 2008, charging that he had harassed, threatened and attacked her and her family. A local court issued a restraining order, barring the sheik from going near Ghailan or her family, and launched a formal investigation in which procedure dictated that Benbrahim be taken into custody. But, Ghailan said later, the mayor, Alberich, intervened to prevent the arrest, saying that it would disrupt relations with Cunit's Muslim community. At the same time, Alberich undertook to mediate directly with Benbrahim. In her mind, she said, the issue was a personal dispute, not a clash of values. "There is no coexistence problem in Cunit," she said. "We have never had that." The situation remained tense but quiet until the magistrate announced two weeks ago that his investigation was finished and that Benbrahim should be jailed for five years on charges of harassment, defamation and threats and that Osri should be sentenced to four years for harassment and defamation. Spain's national newspapers took notice, and TV crews arrived. Soon afterward, Ghailan's friends said, she was threatened in the street again, this time by some of Benbrahim's followers. Ghailan, who was briefly hospitalized for anxiety attacks, was unavailable to relate what happened, as was Benbrahim. But Ghailan told local reporters last week that she had been approached by Alberich after the magistrate's announcement with a suggestion that she withdraw her complaint to foster improved relations with the Muslim community and get the problem behind her. Allegations that Alberich had sought to exempt the Islamic leadership from the legal system were the main issue that generated the calls for her resignation. |
| Posted by:Gleresh Thamp8214 |
| #4 A fancy form of spam, Barbara dear. I pooplisted it. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2010-02-13 17:49 |
| #3 #2 - Huh? |
| Posted by: Barbara Skolaut 2010-02-13 17:28 |
| #2 One thing about her doing this is to be under accordence not to be singled out by the underlining current malcontent miscreants from the debacle about : 911 ! The people would feel the veil is a discomfiture from the : Decadent West ! She could resolve this by wearing the : Appropriate Wardrobe : Not Having : Francophile Probelmo : Style ! Si , Senorita : Si ! Lest Relax & : Take It , Easy ! Allah O Akbar ! She'll wear it : Safely : Health Reasons : Assilimate : Wastern Style : Stay Good : Muslim : Never Lead : Wastern : Tempation : She Does ! Smart lady : Good Muslim : Allah O Akbar ! |
| Posted by: Unoluting Prince of the Leprechauns7471 2010-02-13 16:34 |
| #1 good job , the spanish nipped the culprits in the bud but it sounds like there's a festering issue at large in Cunlit with the remaining Muslims monkeys. She at least had the balls to tell them to get Fuqued, good for her! |
| Posted by: 746 2010-02-13 14:27 |