-
Nothing could have
been more appalling and more evident to the western
nations on the real threat of Islam to these societies
than the declaration made today by Theo Van Goch’s killer
before the court when he confessed that he does not regret
the murder and that he would repeat it over and over if he
was set free. He further emphasized that he acted
according to his religious belief. Moreover, with all
tyranny and ruthlessness he addressed Theo’s mother saying
that he does not feel at all her grief.
-
-
Such declarations
should lead us to a firm stand, as they reveal many
important underlying threats; the major being the defiance
of this criminal to the judiciary and democratic system of
the country, and I mean by judiciary here the penalty that
the court may inflict on the culprit, as it is also bound
by the democratic principles that value the human life,
and thus has abolished the death penalty. Therefore, the
maximum this criminal will get would be some years of
imprisonment in a luxurious prison that would treat him
humanly despite his monstrous act, and the criminal knows
that. The criminal here has defied twice the democratic
system of the country; once by killing Theo for his right
of expression, and secondly by using the penalty code of a
democratic state to abuse of the court.
-
-
Since the September
11 attacks and the Moslems of the world has been
presenting themselves as victims of Islamophobia. They
even managed to pass a resolution at the Human Rights
Commission against Islamophobia. Quite ironic that after
the London attacks, Moslems are still propagating this
image and propagating fears that they might be mistreated
and misjudged by the British community. So far, western
nations have been abiding with the democratic rule of law
and have been giving those immigrants or refugees their
full constitutional rights in a way never experienced in
their mother land. Yet, these people took advantage of the
democratic system and rule of law in these nations to
prevail and rule in their mischievous way.
-
-
This incident, as
well the London attacks, should trigger valid questions by
the western nations and its peoples. They should consider
effective ways to uproot terrorism by legislating a law
that permits the withdrawal of the nationality from the
terrorists and all their family members regardless of the
time they have passed within their immigrant country and
regardless of being a second generation. On the other
hand, requests for naturalization should not be granted
automatically, and immigration laws should be tightened
and candidates should be very well screened.
-
-
The terrorists are
playing a very dangerous game by placing a hard choice for
the west. Either abiding to the rule of human rights which
may keep in life many of these terrorists, or compelling
them to adopt hard line laws that may not be in compliance
with the human rights system. Yet, the west need not prove
any tolerance or prove the prevail of the democratic law,
but it needs to act firmly and fast before time comes when
terrorists have taken over the rule and killed democracy
and tolerance, the two pillars for a modern state.
-