Moroccan dad arrested in Holland for genital mutilation of girl

As has only now come to light, a 29-year-old Moroccan-Dutch father was quietly arrested in October 2008 for the ritual mutilation of his five-year-old daughter's genitals. The Dutch health minister warns however that this is only the tip of the iceberg.

The Haarlem law court in The Netherlands this week extended the Muslim father's incarceration in a police cell until the trial starts, probably in May, said media officer Frances Schlingemann. There were 44 recorded incidents of genital mutilation of female children or threats of such incidents in The Netherlands in 2007/8 - and Dutch health minister Jet Bussemaker fears that this is 'just the tip of the iceberg.' The little girl, five years old, is in the care of foster-parents. The accused father, who under Dutch law may only be identified with his initials, namely M El M., was arrested in October last year - but the justice department only announced it today. Understandably: police authorities prefer not to have to deal with public protests from radical islamist groups over this arrest. Islamic parents must sign a contract Addressing the issue in parliament on Friday, Dutch Health minister Jet Bussemaker urges child-protection agencies and health-care workers to pay closer attention to the ritual mutilation of female children. She said her ministry was considering using the French example, which requires all the parents of girls from islamic societies to sign a contract acknowledging that genital mutilation is illegal before the child is allowed to depart for visits to their home countries. This works as a deterrent: such parents would face a prison sentence in France if the child came back mutilated. At-risk countries are Egypt, Eritrea, Sudan, Ethiopia and similar societies. The status of this socalled 'female circumcision' in Morocco, in which the clitoris of the child is cut away, is unknown. see Reactions on a Dutch-Moroccan website say that 'Moroccans don't do that sort of thing', and also: 'we thought female circumcision was done by women...' Highly sensitive political issue: The highly sensitive issue of the secret practice of genital mutilation of Muslim women and girls in Dutch society was first raised by the former Dutch MP and Somalian refugee Ayaan Hirshi Ali. And Dutch political life has never been the same since then. Her public attack on this cruel practice - which she was also forced to undergo herself -- not only caused a storm of islamic outrage in the Netherlands, but has also created a political upheaval inside Dutch society. In her relentless public attacks, the highly-gifted Dutch MP also wrote the script for the Theo van Gogh film "Submission." see it here It aired on Aug. 29, 2004, on the Dutch public broadcasting network and gained Hirsi Ali and director Theo van Gogh instant notoriety among Muslims worldwide. An immediate death-order, a fatwa, was issued for them, as well as for outspoken Dutch libertarian MP Geert Wilders, who wants the Qúran, in its present form, banned, comparing it as being similar in hate-speech content to the Nazi ruler Adolph Hitler's book, Mein Kampf. Dutch society basically has been divided into two political factions: those who support Wilders, and those who don't dare to do so for fear of suffering his fate: he and his wife now are under 24/7 protection, and he can only meet his constituants by making elaborate advance arrangements in pre-booked meetings. This is the first time that a Dutch politician has ever been unable to speak on any public platforms without elaborate police protection. See The Van Gogh film's main goal was to show Islam's structural abuse and mistreatment of Muslim girls and women - the Q'úran dictates genital mutilation, which removes a woman's ability to enjoy sexual intercourse. (see video above). Before the Van Gogh assassination, Pim Fortuyn, another libertarian Dutch politician who had been warning of the steady islamisation of Dutch and European society, was also murdered. Hirsi-Ali has since resigned from the Parliament and fled to the USA because the Dutch state cannot guarantee her safety. And film-maker Theo van Gogh was slaughtered in front of his home, in broad daylight. Attached to the knife buried deep into Van Gogh's chest, plunged in by a Dutch-Moroccan man, Mohammed Bouyeri, was a note threatening Hirsi Ali and Geert Wilders. Since her self-exile to the USA, she has written "The Caged Virgin: An Emancipation Proclamation for Women and Islam". and "Infidel" her autobiography. She remains relentless in her attacks on Islamic Law -- Sharia -- which orders the genital mutilation of women; calls the prophet Muhammad a "tyrant", and compared him to Osama bin Laden. see The Haarlem father has denied committing the offence. Doctors have however definitely established that the little girl's genitalia were deliberately mutilated. The ministry of justice in Haarlem says the case is still being formulated, and many witnesses and experts will still have to be examined in this delicate case before it goes to trial, probably in May. see original news release here, alas in Dutch Two Dutch men found guilty of chanting 'Jews to the Gas' Meanwhile in the Utrecht law courts, two Dutch men were also found guilty of chanting 'Jews to the Gas' by the Utrecht police law court on February 6 and fined respectively 400 Euros and three weeks in prison, suspended. 15 January Hamas demonstration in Utrecht: The police provided proof that the two men had chanted anti-Jewish hate-speech slogans during a demonstration on 15 January in the centre of Utrecht. Two policemen testified that the first accused man -- who may not be named by law -- had been arrested after he chanted 'Jews to the Gas' - but had apologised profusely immediately. See our previous report here See a similar Hamas demonstration in Amsterdam here The recalcitrant man had never been arrested for any offence whatsoever before this occurrance, and the police judge took this into account when sentencing him to a 400 Euro fine - this time around. The second man, thirty years old, did not get off as easily: the police testified that he had repeatedly chanted "Hamas, Hamas, Jews to the Gas' at the same demonstration. He denied it vehemently, but the judge preferred to believe the police officers' testimony, he said, also because the accused man had also been sentenced previously for similar offences. He was sentenced to 30 hours of forced community service, and a prison sentence of three weeks which were suspended provided he did not commit a similar offence again. There's free speech and then there's hate speech The judge ruled that under these specific circumstances, the Dutch constitutional rights of freedom of speech have to be curtailed - referring to the horrors of the Nazi holocaust during World War II, and pointing out that such chants were 'a direct insult to the entire Jewish community'.source in Dutch here