Belgian King Backs Pro-Hijab Employer

BRUSSELS, December 30 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – In a show of solidarity, Belgium's King Albert II will welcome on January 12 a pro-hijab manager and his hijab-clad employee who have recently made headlines after death threats from a fundamentalist group.

Remmery, who runs a successful worldwide famous seafood firm based in western Belgium, received a death threat letter after defending staff member Naima Amzil’s write to wear hijab to work, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).

Albert II “is following the case closely and is very impressed by the manager's decision not to give in to pressure,” said the royal palace said.

At the end of November, a group calling itself “New Free Flanders,” demanded that Remmery sack 31-year-old Amzil if she insists on wearing hijab, accusing him of being “a bad Belgian who collaborates with Muslims.”

The group threatened Remmery and his family in case of noncompliance.

Amzil offered to take off her hijab during working hours or resign, but a brave Remmery shrugged off both options.

Manager of the Year 2004

Remmery has been backed by a growing wave of support in Belgium's northern Flanders region, where the anti-immigrant Vlaams Belang group has backing from about a quarter of voters, said AFP.

One employers' group has collected 17,000 signatures in support of Remmery.

“May your calm resolve become symbols of tolerance in Flanders,” said the Unizo bosses' association.

Many emails suggested that Remmery (rik@remmery.be) be named “Manager of the Year 2004”, reported La Libre Belgique newspaper on Tuesday, December 28.

In 2002, Remmery was awarded the top prize in the second annual Seafood Prix d'élite new products competition at the recent European Seafood Exposition (ESE).

The number of Muslims in Belgium amounts to 400,000 of the country’s 10 millions, represented before the state bodies by the Islamic Executive Council, which is officially recognized by the king and government.

There are hundreds of mosques as well as cultural and social societies in major Belgian cities.

Several political activists, of Muslim origin, have managed to sit in the Federal Parliament and provincial parliaments as well as municipalities.

The recent government has included the first Muslim minister, Anisa Timsmani, of Moroccan origin, who had to resign under the pressures of Belgian press and media.

The issue of hijab has recently taken a central stage in several European countries.

France triggered a controversy by adopting a bill banning hijab and religious insignia in public schools, a decision dismissed by the US-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) as “discriminatory.”

Last year, Belgium 's ministers locked horns over following the French example by passing a law banning hijab in state schools.

In an effort to contain the French hijab-ban law from extending to more European states, human rights activists and EU parliament members championed a campaign aimed at issuing a declaration demanding EU countries to respect the freedom of faith and dressing, including the right to wear hijab and other religious symbols.

Islam sees hijab as an obligatory code of dress, not a religious symbol displaying one’s affiliations – unlike the symbolic Christian crucifixes or Jewish Kappas.