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Rabat – The Executive of Muslims of Belgium (EMB) on Thursday filed new complaints at the European level against Belgium’s Justice Minister Vincent Van Quickenborne, accusing him of violating the constitution by “openly insulting and humiliating the representative body of Islam.”
In a press statement published on Thursday, the EMB called out Van Quickenborne for interfering in the organization’s internal affairs. The organization emphasized that the minister “openly advocates the democratization of the EMB, but at the same time he tries to interfere extensively in the composition of the Executive in order to force it to accept certain people.”
On September 1, the Brussels Court of First Instance condemned the Belgian state, through Van Quickenborne, for illegally interfering in the activities of a religious authority, by forcing former EMB President Salah Echallaoui to resign.
Recalling the court’s ruling, EMB said that the minister’s “serious violation” of freedom of religion and association persisted even after the ruling.
“Immediately after the sentencing, Van Quickenborne announced that he wanted to ‘get more into the shenanigans and the blunders’, thus once again violating not only decency but also fundamental constitutional rules,” the Muslim organization added.
The EMB claims that Van Quickenborne seeks political gain by “openly” and “falsely” accusing and discrediting the body. “Each time, on the basis of ‘accidentally’ leaked State Security documents, he openly accuses the EMB without investigating whether these accusations are justified,” they said.
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The EMB’s most recent complaint follows waves of condemnation of all forms of islamophobia across Europe from politically-driven hate speech to attacks on mosques and Islamic organizations.
In June this year, several rights groups called out the EU’s inaction to address Islamophobia, stressing that the social phenomenon is increasing across Europe, after it had “moved to the private sphere” during the COVID-19 pandemic, adding it “is being spread especially in social media.”
