Swiss Ban Muslim Minaret Construction
Swiss voters on Sunday approved a constitutional ban on the construction of Muslim minarets. The referendum passed with over 57% of the votes cast.
The minaret “is a political symbol against integration; a symbol more of segregation, and first of all, a symbol to try to introduce Sharia law parallel to Swiss rights,” Ulrich Schluer said in a telephone interview. According to the Los Angeles Times, Schluer is one of the leaders of the Egerkingen Committee, which authored the bill, and a lawmaker from the conservative Swiss People’s Party.
“When you look at the European Union, where are there extremists?” asked Schluer. “In the suburbs and ghetto banlieues of Paris and London. . . . We don’t want that in Switzerland.”
The Times reported that Youssef Ibram, the head of a large mosque in Geneva, was stunned by the vote. “I interpret this vote as the Swiss way of saying that the presence of Muslims here poses a major question,” he said.
The Swiss Federal Council, a seven-member executive body, said it respected the decision of voters and issued the following statement:
“Consequently, the construction of new minarets in Switzerland is no longer permitted,” it said, adding that the four existing minarets would be allowed to stand and that there was no prohibition on the construction of new mosques.
The ban faces legal challenges. Manon Schick, Amnesty International’s representative in Geneva, said banning minarets violates international law and guarantees of religious freedom.
