Swiss Court Reinstates Muslim Teacher Who Defended Stoning for Adultery

Hani Ramadan: Stone them

Hani Ramadan, brother of the famed Tariq Ramadan, lost his teaching job in Switzerland last year after he published an article in Paris' Le Monde defending stoning for adulterers. Now he has been reinstated.

What, then, will the Swiss say when someone actually wants to stone an adulterer? From IslamOnline, with thanks to Twostellas:

CAIRO, April 4 (IslamOnline.net) – A Swiss court annulled a government decision to sack a Muslim from his job as a high school French language teacher in Geneva for publicly defending the Islamic punishment for adultery.
The Geneva Administrative Court reinstated Hani Ramadan, deeming the State Council’s decision of February 5, 2003, as null and void and ordering it to pay 5,000 Swiss Francs in compensation, Swiss daily Le Matin reported Saturday, April 3.

Ramadan, who is also the head of the Geneva Islamic Center, had defended the stoning punishment for adulterous men and women in an article published by French daily Le Monde late 2002.

He wrote that the stoning punishment is meant to help curb the “moral degradation” in societies and put the what he saw as “divine curse” (AIDS/HIV) under control.

Ramadan said – in his article - God has initiated the stoning punishment for “His love of mankind, because AIDS came out of nothing but from promiscuousness”.

Adultery in Islam is one of the most heinous and deadliest of sins. Its enormity can be gauged from the fact that it has often been conjoined in the Qur’an with the gravest of all sins.

However, Geneva State Council said his opinions “run counter to democracy and secularism in Switzerland”.

It also argued that the article violated the principle of “reservationism” observed by the educational institution in the country, stating that any teacher should not speak his personal viewpoints out so that they would not affect the mindsets of his students at an early age.

The decision had an adverse affect on Ramadan as he was ultimately banned from teaching in Geneva by the Swiss government.

The court described the Council’s “reservationism” as too vague to justify the dismissal of the Muslim teacher from his post.

“Fair”

Ramadan described the court’s verdict as “fair”, saying he was confident that the Swiss litigation would stand by him.

He said the government’s decision was “unjust” because “I do my job (as a teacher) honestly”.

“This ruling demonstrates that we live in a state of law and that dialogue between Islam and Christianity remains possible,” he told Le Matin.

Head of Geneva Government Robert Cromer, for his part, balked at the court’s decision, noting he will study the whys and wherefores of the ruling to see whether it could be put into effect.

He said Ramadan’s dismissal decision was taken “unanimously” by the government’s members, adding religion “has no room in public education”.

Ramadan is the elder brother of famed Swiss Muslim intellectual Tarek Ramadan, who are both the grandsons of Hassan Al-Banna, the founder of Egypt’s outlawed Muslim Brotherhood.

In 1961, their father Sayed Ramadan founded the Islamic Center in Geneva.

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3 Comments

christian | April 5, 2004 9:52 PM

Leave it to the swiss, smart move, backing the muslim brotherhood and its members.

epg | April 6, 2004 10:50 AM

Europe is essentially Muslim as we speak. Don't surprised when all of the European insitutions, including the World Court, allow for "stoning," "multilations," and all of the other ahborrent practices that Islam now allows. Europe is dead. They just don't realize it. The new name of the European Union should be "The Islamic Union of European States."

Beware of the World Court's influence on U.S. law through the influence of "activits judges" that are consulting international jurisprudence to impose their will on American courts. (Some judges have ACTUALLY stated that they are doing this.) Beware also of the United Nations which is titling like the Tower of Pisa in that direction. A puff of air will blow completely over into the Islamists' camp.

Stephen S | April 8, 2004 7:03 PM

As much as I abhor Mr. Ramadan's stone age ideology, the court was right in its decision. Mr. Ramadan has the right, if invited, to express his views. As long as his opinions do not interfere with his work, his behavior, or even his abiding by the laws of the land, then Mr. Ramadan is entitled to the most cherished of rights -that of freedom of expression- without fear of retaliation. No matter how disagreeable his opinion may be!

As far as I am aware, at least in this instance, he was expressing a view on what he perceives to be a crime. He was not calling for the wonton extermination of westerners or the destruction of Switzerland. It would be akin to baring a teacher from school in Massachusetts for having written in support of capital punishment in a local newspaper, even though the State has outlawed the death penalty.

Nevertheless, let us be equally firm that, the moment Mr. Ramadan goes from discussion to commission, he will have forfeited his rights and privileges. Until then, let us not deny him those rights that fundamentalists routinely deny their brethren wherever they hold sway - otherwise the terrorists will have won.

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