BRUSSELS,
April 20, 2005 (IslamOnline.net) – Belgian King Albert II and Queen
Paola have made a rare visit to a factory where a hijab-clad woman was
forced to quit her job over death threats, to express their support
for the Muslim employee and her factory colleagues against extremist
threats.
Naimi
Amzil, of a Moroccan origin, was forced to quit her job in the Remmery
seafood factory on March 3, after receiving death threats from an
extremist group for no reasons other than being a veiled Muslim.
Expressing
outrage at the extremist threats, the Belgian monarch decided to visit
the factory to back the Muslim employee and other factory workers
against the extremist death threats.
During
a reception party held on the sidelines of the King's visit Tuesday,
April 19, Rick Remmery, the factory owner, said the visit represents a
powerful sign of support for the Muslim employee and the factory
workers.
He
expressed hope that King Albert II's visit to the factory will bring
an end to the extremist death threats against the factory staff.
“Arresting
the culprits is not a priority for me. All I do care about is to see
an end to the series of death threats,” said Remmery.
The
latest in a series of death threats against the Muslim woman was a
letter containing two bullets signed by an extremist group calling
itself “New Free Flanders”.
The
fundamentalist group said that an execution was being prepared,
threatening to poison produce made at the delicatessen factory in west
Flanders where she worked.
Amzil
and her employer Rick Remmery hit the newsstands after they were
received by King Albert II, following their refusal to bow to death
threats against them.
The
tragic chain of events became known last November when the “New Free
Flanders”, demanded that Remmery sack 31-year-old Amzil if she
insists on wearing hijab, accusing him of being “a bad Belgian who
collaborates with Muslims.”
The
group threatened Remmery and his family in case of noncompliance.
Amzil
offered to take off her hijab during working hours or resign, but a
brave Remmery shrugged off both options.
Sympathy
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Naimi
Amzil with her husband and children.
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During
the reception party, one of Amzil’s sons presented the Belgian King
a painting portraying the tragic situation in which the Muslim family
lives since the series of the tragic events began.
The
Belgian Monarch and Queen also met with hundreds of students of the
primary school in which Amzil’s sons are studying to show their
sympathy.
Afterwards,
King Albert and Queen Paola toured the factory, ending with the
packing department, where Amzil was working, and listened to an
explanation from her colleagues on the role the Muslim employee used
to play.
The
number of Belgian Muslims amounts to 400,000 of the country’s 10
millions, represented before the state bodies by the Islamic Executive
Council, which is officially recognized by the king and government.
There
are hundreds of mosques as well as cultural and social societies in
major Belgian cities.
Several
political activists, of Muslim origin, have managed to sit in the
Federal Parliament and provincial parliaments as well as
municipalities.
The
recent government has included the first Muslim minister, Anisa
Timsmani, of Moroccan origin, who had to resign under the pressures of
Belgian press and media.
The
issue of hijab has recently taken a central stage in several European
countries.
France
triggered a controversy by adopting a bill banning hijab and religious
insignia in public schools, a decision dismissed by the US-based Human
Rights Watch (HRW) as “discriminatory.”
Last
year, Belgian ministers locked horns over whether they should follow
the French example by passing a law banning hijab in state schools.
Islam
sees hijab as an obligatory code of dress, not a religious symbol
displaying one’s affiliations – unlike the symbolic Christian
crucifixes or Jewish Kappas.
