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June 14, 2006
Belgium: Ban On Wearing Of Islamic Burka Is Upheld
We first reported on the ban on the wearing of the all-enveloping burka in five Belgian towns on September 8. In the Flemish-speaking towns of Ghent, Antwerp, Sint-Truden, Lebbeke and Maaseik, no-one is allowed to wear the burka. The mayor of Maaseik, Jan Cleemers, said he acted after six women started wearing burqas, alarming local residents. Five of the women put away their costumes.
But one of these five women from Maaseik did not remove her burka willingly. She took her case to court, states Expatica. Khadija El Ouazzanik was told by Maaseik magistrates' court on Monday (June 12) that the town was legally within its rights to prevent the wearing of burkas.
Ouazzanik had been fined 75 Euros ($95) in April 2005 for wearing the costume after the ban was enforced, and had consequently launched an appeal, which she has now lost.
This is the first time that a court in Belgium has banned a burka or a nikab (a veil covering the head and leaving only the eyes visible). The mayor, Jan Creemers said: "A lot of colleagues in Belgium are considering a ban on burkas or face veils. They have waited for this ruling because they feel strengthened by a ban from a court."
The woman from Maaseik who refused to remove her burka, and consistently refused to pay fines for breaching the ban was one Mrs Bouloudou. And unsurprisingly for someone so militantly opposed to secularism while living in a non-Muslim country, her husband was a terrorist.
Khalid Bouloudou, a pastry chef originally from Morocco was a prime suspect in a terror case, involving the GICM (Groupe Islamique Combattant Marocain). On November 16 we reported that he had gone on trial in Belgium's Palais de Justice with others who were accused of links to the group. Bouloudou was suspected of being involved with the bombings in Casablanca on 16 May 2003, which killed 45 people, and also the Madrid train bombings of March 11, 2004, which killed 191 people.
In the end, 30-year old Bouloudou was sentenced to five years' jail for making fake passports and giving aid to leaders of GICM.
Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at June 14, 2006 2:26 PM
Comments
Ironically, I have heard that the burka has no real basis in Islam and is never mentioned in the Koran. It is a relatively recent cultural phenomenon and, like so many things, the radical Islamists have perverted it.
I was told--don't know if it's true--that the burka came as a result of girls being raped and the solution was to cover them so men would not be so tempted...
Posted by: LSUfan ![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.westernresistance.com/nav-commenters.gif)
at June 14, 2006 4:40 PM
Hi, LSUFan
The "covering up" of women really only has one citation from the Koran, in Surah 33 - Al Ahzab, or the Clans, and as you state, it is to prevent against rape, according to most interpretations/translations.
This is the relevant passage:
Al-Ahzab - Surah 33, verse 59
O Prophet! Tell thy wives and thy daughters and the women of the believers to draw their cloaks close round them (when they go abroad). That will be better, so that they may be recognised and not annoyed. Allah is ever Forgiving, Merciful.
So it has a wide margin for interpretation.
When I see young girls dressed to "protect themselves against threat of rape" I feel a bit nauseous that anyone could consider a child as an object of rape (but Mohammed porked Aisha when she was only nine, according to Bukhari and Tabari's hadiths).
Best wishes,
Giraldus Cambrensis
Posted by: Giraldus Cambrensis at June 14, 2006 8:32 PM
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