Amnesty report particularly critical of hijab-ban countries
LONDON, (AFP): European countries are discriminating against Muslims for demonstrating their faith, especially in the fields of education and employment, rights group Amnesty International said Tuesday.
In a report focusing on Belgium, France, the Netherlands, Spain, and Switzerland, Amnesty urged European governments to do more to challenge negative stereotypes and prejudices against Islam.
The report was particularly critical of countries that have brought in outright bans on face-covering veils or on the wearing of religious symbols in schools.
“Rather than countering these prejudices, political parties and public officials are all too often pandering to them in their quest for votes,” said Marco Perolini, Amnesty International’s expert on discrimination.
“Muslim women are being denied jobs and girls prevented from attending regular classes just because they wear traditional forms of dress, such as the headscarf.
“Men can be dismissed for wearing beards associated with Islam.”
The Amnesty report comes two days after the anti-immigrant National Front achieved a record score for the party in the first round of France’s presidential election, with 18 percent of voters backing leader Marine Le Pen.
The report, titled “Choice and prejudice: discrimination against Muslims in Europe”, says legislation prohibiting discrimination in employment has not been properly implemented in Belgium, France and the Netherlands.
Employers had been allowed to ban religious or cultural symbols on the grounds that they would annoy clients or colleagues, or that it conflicts with a company’s corporate image or supposed neutrality, it said.
Amnesty said this was in direct conflict with European Union law.
“EU legislation prohibiting discrimination on the ground of religion or belief in the area of employment seems to be toothless across Europe, as we observe a higher rate of unemployment among Muslims,” Perolini said.
This was especially true among Muslim women of foreign origin, he added.
In the last decade school pupils have been banned from wearing headscarves or other traditional religious dress in countries including Spain, France, Belgium, Switzerland and the Netherlands, Amnesty said.
The group also criticised Switzerland for a 2009 ban on the construction of new minarets for mosques.
It said that in Spain’s Catalonia region many Muslims had to pray in outdoor areas because authorities were rejecting applications to build mosques on the grounds that they were incompatible with Catalan traditions and culture.
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‘muslims In Europe Face Discrimination’
Started by
aamirzs
, Apr 26 2012 01:10 AM
5 replies to this topic
#2
aamirzs
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Posted 26 April 2012 - 01:12 AM
US agents harassing Muslims at border
‘Handcuffed … held at gunpoint’
DETROIT, (AP): Some Detroit-area Muslims have been held at gunpoint, handcuffed and repeatedly harassed about their religion when returning to the US from Canada, according to a lawsuit that seeks to bar government agents from asking questions about religion.
The Michigan branch of the Council on American-Islamic Relations said border agents and the FBI are violating the US Constitution and a 1993 federal law that guarantees freedom to practice religion.
“Since the tragedy of 9/11, we have seen a steady erosion of civil liberties of Muslim-Americans,” CAIR director Dawud Walid said Friday, a day after a lawsuit was filed in federal court in Detroit.
US Customs and Border Protection declined to comment on the allegations but said profiling based on race or religion is strictly prohibited. The lawsuit also names the FBI director and two agents. The FBI declined to comment.
Two of the four plaintiffs, Ali Suleiman Ali of Canton Township and Wissam Charafeddine of Dearborn, said they have been detained for hours on the US side of the Detroit-Canada tunnel or at an international bridge in Port Huron, Michigan. Agents, they said, wanted to know about their religious practices and where they worship.
Attorney Shereef Akeel said it’s hard to imagine a Jew crossing the border and being asked about the Sabbath or a Roman Catholic quizzed about praying the rosary.
“It’s really persecution. They’re targeting a group,” he said.
According to the lawsuit, Kheireddine Bouzid, 24, of Ypsilanti has been stopped at the border at least five times since 2008 by agents with their guns drawn.
Charafeddine, 35, described the interrogations as “psychological torture.” He said he hasn’t crossed the border since 2010 to spare his family and, as a result, has missed weddings and funerals.
The lawsuit asks US District Judge Avern Cohn to bar the government from questioning Muslims about their faith.
Ali, a 64-year-old native of Ghana, is an imam, or Islamic spiritual leader, in suburban Detroit. He said he was last detained in December while returning to the US from Toronto.
“I was shocked. Why do they handcuff me? I am not a criminal,” Ali said.
‘Handcuffed … held at gunpoint’
DETROIT, (AP): Some Detroit-area Muslims have been held at gunpoint, handcuffed and repeatedly harassed about their religion when returning to the US from Canada, according to a lawsuit that seeks to bar government agents from asking questions about religion.
The Michigan branch of the Council on American-Islamic Relations said border agents and the FBI are violating the US Constitution and a 1993 federal law that guarantees freedom to practice religion.
“Since the tragedy of 9/11, we have seen a steady erosion of civil liberties of Muslim-Americans,” CAIR director Dawud Walid said Friday, a day after a lawsuit was filed in federal court in Detroit.
US Customs and Border Protection declined to comment on the allegations but said profiling based on race or religion is strictly prohibited. The lawsuit also names the FBI director and two agents. The FBI declined to comment.
Two of the four plaintiffs, Ali Suleiman Ali of Canton Township and Wissam Charafeddine of Dearborn, said they have been detained for hours on the US side of the Detroit-Canada tunnel or at an international bridge in Port Huron, Michigan. Agents, they said, wanted to know about their religious practices and where they worship.
Attorney Shereef Akeel said it’s hard to imagine a Jew crossing the border and being asked about the Sabbath or a Roman Catholic quizzed about praying the rosary.
“It’s really persecution. They’re targeting a group,” he said.
According to the lawsuit, Kheireddine Bouzid, 24, of Ypsilanti has been stopped at the border at least five times since 2008 by agents with their guns drawn.
Charafeddine, 35, described the interrogations as “psychological torture.” He said he hasn’t crossed the border since 2010 to spare his family and, as a result, has missed weddings and funerals.
The lawsuit asks US District Judge Avern Cohn to bar the government from questioning Muslims about their faith.
Ali, a 64-year-old native of Ghana, is an imam, or Islamic spiritual leader, in suburban Detroit. He said he was last detained in December while returning to the US from Toronto.
“I was shocked. Why do they handcuff me? I am not a criminal,” Ali said.
#3
Jazba-e-Kashmir
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Posted 26 April 2012 - 07:47 AM
Nothing new.
Amnesty International has published a report saying that, Muslim men who have a beard and Muslim women who wear a hijaab/scarf; are turned down at the jobmarket. Their Muslim names are also a hindering when a written CV and job application are handed over to a company.
France and Holland are mentioned in the report, alsong with other european countries.
europeans must follow up to their background culture, which is what their forefathers did.
Therefore it is "ok" to discriminate Muslims, like Black Slaves and Red Indians were mocked, discriminated and assaulted.
Peace
Amnesty International has published a report saying that, Muslim men who have a beard and Muslim women who wear a hijaab/scarf; are turned down at the jobmarket. Their Muslim names are also a hindering when a written CV and job application are handed over to a company.
France and Holland are mentioned in the report, alsong with other european countries.
europeans must follow up to their background culture, which is what their forefathers did.
Therefore it is "ok" to discriminate Muslims, like Black Slaves and Red Indians were mocked, discriminated and assaulted.
Peace
#6
Jazba-e-Kashmir
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- Senior Members
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Posted 08 May 2012 - 02:00 PM
This newsarticle is not related to europe, but still reflects this thread's context:
Susann Bashir, Muslim Woman Convert, Wins $5 Million Verdict From AT&T For Discrimination
KANSAS CITY, Mo. May 4 (Reuters) - A Kansas City woman who converted from Christianity to Islam has been awarded $5 million in punitive damages by a jury who found the telecommunications giant AT&T created a "hostile work environment" after her conversion, according to a judge's order issued Friday.
Susann Bashir, a 41-year-old married mother, sued AT&T unit Southwestern Bell for what she said was a pattern of offensive and discriminatory conduct by her supervisors that began when she converted to Islam in 2005, six years after she started working for the company as a network technician.
After Bashir started wearing a religious head scarf known as a hijab, and attending Friday mosque services, her managers and co-workers called her names including "terrorist," and told her she was going to hell, said her attorney Amy Coopman.
A manager repeatedly told her to remove her hijab, insulted her for wearing it, and once physically grabbed Bashir and tried to rip the hijab off her head, according to the suit.
Bashir complained to human resources and then filed a formal complaint alleging discrimination with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and was subsequently fired in 2010.
After several days of hearing testimony and deliberation, a jury in Jackson County Circuit Court on Thursday ordered AT&T to pay $5 million in punitive damages on top of $120,000 in actual damages.
AT&T spokesman Marty Richter said the company would appeal.
"AT&T is a nationally recognized leader in workforce diversity and inclusion, something in which we take great pride. We disagree with the verdict and plan to appeal," Richter said.
Bashir's lawyer said the jury award was "monumental" to Bashir, but said it had little impact on AT&T, a multi-billion-dollar global corporation.
"The company has an excellent written policy," said Coopman.
"If they had just followed the policy none of this would have happened!!
http://www.huffingto..._n_1479884.html
Such attacks and mockings are just few that get into the world media and there is no social justice even if such verdict to punish companies and co-workers who commit actions from the dark ages.
The comments on the internet and the support people, who commit ignorant, uncivilized and backward against our sister Bashir, will bash her, bash our religion and advice not to hire Muslims in the company.
But i give Bashir for her courage to stand up against the social injustice, and that is the only way as i stated long time here on PDF - to drag a company to the court, whip them like they've the Black man and sue them!
Anyways, does anyone know which companies co-operate with AT&T, where AT&T invests their financial projects and which companies invest in AT&T?? Because i want to avoid and boycott the company from every aspect. Just like Muslims are going through mocking and social injustice from every aspect.
Big companies can't expect to slap, bash, thrash and mock Muslims and at the same time suck their money.
Peace
Susann Bashir, Muslim Woman Convert, Wins $5 Million Verdict From AT&T For Discrimination
KANSAS CITY, Mo. May 4 (Reuters) - A Kansas City woman who converted from Christianity to Islam has been awarded $5 million in punitive damages by a jury who found the telecommunications giant AT&T created a "hostile work environment" after her conversion, according to a judge's order issued Friday.
Susann Bashir, a 41-year-old married mother, sued AT&T unit Southwestern Bell for what she said was a pattern of offensive and discriminatory conduct by her supervisors that began when she converted to Islam in 2005, six years after she started working for the company as a network technician.
After Bashir started wearing a religious head scarf known as a hijab, and attending Friday mosque services, her managers and co-workers called her names including "terrorist," and told her she was going to hell, said her attorney Amy Coopman.
A manager repeatedly told her to remove her hijab, insulted her for wearing it, and once physically grabbed Bashir and tried to rip the hijab off her head, according to the suit.
Bashir complained to human resources and then filed a formal complaint alleging discrimination with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and was subsequently fired in 2010.
After several days of hearing testimony and deliberation, a jury in Jackson County Circuit Court on Thursday ordered AT&T to pay $5 million in punitive damages on top of $120,000 in actual damages.
AT&T spokesman Marty Richter said the company would appeal.
"AT&T is a nationally recognized leader in workforce diversity and inclusion, something in which we take great pride. We disagree with the verdict and plan to appeal," Richter said.
Bashir's lawyer said the jury award was "monumental" to Bashir, but said it had little impact on AT&T, a multi-billion-dollar global corporation.
"The company has an excellent written policy," said Coopman.
"If they had just followed the policy none of this would have happened!!
http://www.huffingto..._n_1479884.html
Such attacks and mockings are just few that get into the world media and there is no social justice even if such verdict to punish companies and co-workers who commit actions from the dark ages.
The comments on the internet and the support people, who commit ignorant, uncivilized and backward against our sister Bashir, will bash her, bash our religion and advice not to hire Muslims in the company.
But i give Bashir for her courage to stand up against the social injustice, and that is the only way as i stated long time here on PDF - to drag a company to the court, whip them like they've the Black man and sue them!
Anyways, does anyone know which companies co-operate with AT&T, where AT&T invests their financial projects and which companies invest in AT&T?? Because i want to avoid and boycott the company from every aspect. Just like Muslims are going through mocking and social injustice from every aspect.
Big companies can't expect to slap, bash, thrash and mock Muslims and at the same time suck their money.
Peace
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