News in Brief

Four Muslim members were elected in the 179-member Folketinget, the Danish parliament in the elections held on November 12. Previous Parliament had three members.


The new members are: Naser Khader from the New Alliance Party; Dr. Kamal Qureshy from the same party; Ms. Oezlam Sara Cekik of the opposition Socialist People’s Party and Ms. Yildiz Akdogan from Social Democrats. While the two women are of Turkish origin, Dr. Qureshy is of Pakistani origin. Both male members were elected for the second time. Altogether 23 Muslims, including eight women candidates, contested the elections. Under the Danish laws, immigrants who have spent three years in Demark, can run for elections. Dr. Qureshy also represents Denmark in the European Organisation for Security and Cooperation.

Five more primary school for Muslims have been sanctioned for the 32500 Muslims residents of Ireland. Two schools have already been operating in the catholic nation since 2000. The schools will teach the same curriculum as the other primary schools and include Arabic and Islamic studies. They are subject to the same laws of inspection which applies to general schools.

Sweden’s postal service and the largest direct marketing company refused to distribute the copies of the paper SD-Kuriren, a far-right newspaper which carried a caricature of the Prophet Muhammad last November. The caricature was drawn by cartoonist Lars Vilk. The postal service said distribution of the paper was a security risk.


Swedish government has followed a policy of avoiding all forms of hurtful behaviour against all faiths. It banned the reproduction of the insulting cartoon by Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten which created a massive stir in Europe in 2006.