THE HAGUE, 30/01/08 - Another Labour (PvdA) politician has turned out to be supporting the radical Islamic group Hizb ut Tahrir. This time, it is Hatice Can-Engin, an alderman in the town of Gilze-Rijen.
Can-Engin, of Turkish origin, signed a petition of Hizb ut Tahrir against the insulting of Islam. Gilze-Rijen Mayor Rene Roep has confirmed that Can-Engin signed the online petition. The alderman herself had initially denied this. Whether her action will have consequences for her functioning as alderman is not yet clear.
Hizb ut-Tahrir, banned in Germany, aspires to worldwide Islamic dominance. Chairman Okay Pala recently said in newspaper De Telegraaf that the Netherlands "needs a bombing attack" and that he rejects democracy.
As alderman, Can-Engin is responsible for integration policy in Gilze-Rijen. Also, she was for years director of the Turks' Participation Body (IOT).
Last week, Bouchra Ismaili, a PvdA member of Rotterdam's Charlois district council was involved in scandal. First she e-mailed to a citizen that he should convert to Islam or otherwise shut up. Subsequently, it emerged that she had signed the Hizb ut Tahrir petition. Ismaili, too, lied about this, on which the PvdA asked her to resign. But she has so far refused to do so.
Najia Siamari, who until recently sat in the local council of IJsselstein for PvdA, also signed the Hizb ut Tahrir petition. So did Abdelhakim Chouaati, maker of the TV programme Ab & Sal of public broadcaster NPS. And so did Ibrahim Kaygisiz. He is associated with the controversial Wester mosque in Amsterdam, which the city council wants to allow to be built despite great societal opposition.
The PvdA cannot force council members who support Hizb ut-Tahrir to give up their seats, but they can expel them from the party. It is not considering this yet. The PvdA did expel ex-Muslim Ehsan Jami last year because this 22 year old council member had overly severe criticisms of Islam, in the party's view.
National PvdA chairman Lilianne Ploumen does not want to make too much of a fuss. "Can-Engin has meanwhile distanced herself from Hizb ut Tahrir and that is the end of the matter," said a spokesman for Ploumen.
