News and Analysis on Islam in Europe and North America
Controversial imam Khalid Yasin has been permitted to give a number of speeches in the Netherlands, but will be prosecuted if he incites hatred. Justice Minister Ernst Hirsch Ballin told MPs that Yasin cannot be refused entry unless he has been proved to be a danger to national security or public order. Yasin, a convert
Justice Minister Ernst Hirsch Ballin announced that he would investigate allegations of anti-Semitism and incitement towards violence and hatred during pro-Palestinian rallies held in the Netherlands over the past two weeks. Hirsch Ballin said that he would ask police about concerns in the rallies, and look at whether the public prosecutor had taken appropriate action
Dutch Justice Minister Ernst Hirsch Ballin is considering whether measures against ‘Islamic marriage’ ought to be introduced. Islamic weddings in the Netherlands are generally unofficial, non-government sanctioned ceremonies based on Islamic law. Contracts in Islamic marriages are not legally recognized under Dutch law. As such, there will be no alimony if a couple divorces, and
Dutch ministers pledged to meet with local officials in neighborhoods where many immigrants live, in an effort to curb the “nuisance” caused by gangs of Dutch Moroccan youth. A heated debate in parliament erupted between home affairs minister Guusje ter Horst and justice minister Ernst Hirsch Ballin – this following growing unease about the behavior
In response to questions about informal marriages in the Netherlands, Minister of Justice Ernst Hirsch Ballin said that those who contract informal Muslim marriages should not be punished, but fought with dialogue and information. Hirsch Ballin answered the parliamentary questions of two Labor Party members, who said that they fear informal Muslim marriages could cause