WASHINGTON, May 12 (IslamOnline) - Homosexuals in the Netherlands expressed outrage Thursday over comments made by an imam on Dutch television condemning homosexuality and calling it a disease.
Khalil el-Moumni, a Rotterdam imam, had said last week that homosexuality is a sickness that could destroy society.
The imam's comments, which have been routinely repeated by leaders of other faith groups, sparked an outcry among gay activist groups in Netherlands.
They have written to Prime Minister Wim Kok asking him to take a strong position against what they called "absurd and intolerant remarks." Public prosecutors have also launched a criminal investigation into the matter.
Imam El-Moumni had said in a current affairs program that homosexuality was a dangerous disease and that society will be threatened with extinction if gays were permitted to wed.
"Homosexuality does not remain restricted to the people who have this disease," he said. "If this disease spreads, everyone could become infected."
The NRC Handelsblad daily newspaper quoted imams from the Netherland's four largest mosques endorsing El-Moumni's remarks. It quoted one of them as saying that homosexuality is "shameless, improper, scandalous and intolerable."
The NRC quoted Amsterdam Imam Mohamed Shafique Rehmaan as saying, "If the hole in the dyke is not plugged soon, the whole country will be flooded."
Netherlands, a country long known for its sexual promiscuity, was the first country in the world to legalize same-sex marriages in April this year. It also hosts a legalized prostitution den at the Amsterdam airport in a country where the entire prostitution industry is legal and licensed by the government.
Media reports claim that a Dutch public prosecutor has launched an investigation to determine whether the imam could be prosecuted for discrimination or defamation. If prosecuted and proven guilty, he could face a maximum penalty of year in prison, or be fined.
