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Muslim
women wearing religious clothes under the magnifying glass: Djogic
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LJUBLJANA,
October 23 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Slovenian police
discriminate against Muslim women who dress according to Islamic Sharia,
Mufti Osman Djogic, the head of Slovenia's some 20,000 Muslims, charged
Wednesday, October 23.
Djogic
told Agence France Presse (AFP) his wife, who wears traditional Muslim
clothes, was arrested earlier this month outside her home on the pretext
she was not carrying a passport – even though she had a valid
Australian driving license and Bosnian identity documents.
She
was only released after Australian and Bosnian diplomats intervened,
Djogic said.
"A
category of Muslim women, who wear religious clothes for religious
reasons, have been put under the magnifying glass. It is not fair that
clothes should be used as a ground for suspicion," Djogic told AFP.
He
said authorities had neither explained nor apologized for the arrest his
wife, Amela Djogic, and that similar incidents had happened to other
Muslim women.
In
a statement Wednesday, Slovenian police justified the arrest, saying
their "agents fulfill their duties according to the law and without
discrimination."
Ljubljana
police spokesman Peter Kralj defended the act in an interview with
Slovenian state radio. He said the Mufti's wife had been detained for
not carrying a passport.
"When
officers tried to check the foreigner's identity, they determined that
she was not carrying any document to prove that she had entered legally
and has a residence permit for our country," he claimed.
In
an unprecedented use of the term, police said in their statement the
Mufti’s wife was "invited to the police station."
After
an interrogation, she was given a written warning, the statement added.
Muslims
make up 1.1 percent of Slovenia's two million population, but not all of
them dress in traditional Islamic clothes.
