DUTCH MUSLIMS FILE UN COMPLAINT AGAINST PARLIAMENT
A coalition of Muslim groups in the Netherlands has filed a complaint with the United Nations against a Dutch parliamentary committee tasked with investigating the influence of foreign funding on mosques and Islamic associations, a report said on April 25. The Ummah Project, a group based in the Netherlands that is spearheading the effort, filed an 82-page complaint with the UN Human Rights Committee on April 24, accusing the Dutch parliamentary committee on unwanted foreign influence (Pocob) of waging a “witch-hunt” against the Muslim community. The Muslim leaders who are part of the complaint include Hamid Tahiri, Jacob Van Der Blom, and Nasr El Dalmanhoury, who held leadership positions in various mosques and Muslim associations across the country. The men were called before Pocob in 2020 after the Dutch parliament began investigating the influence of money from a list of “unfree countries” – including Kuwait, Morocco, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Türkiye, and the United Arab Emirates. Pocob focused only on Muslim organisations in Holland and refused to broaden its scope to include the possibility of influence from other foreign countries.
AZERBAIJAN INKS DEAL FOR NEW GAS SUPPLY ROUTE TO EUROPE
Azerbaijan’s state oil company (SOCAR) on April 25 signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for the supply of additional gas to Europe with transmission system operators of Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, and Slovakia. Ministers from the five countries signed the agreement at a ceremony in the Bulgarian capital Sofia, which was also attended by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and his Bulgarian counterpart Rumen Radev. The Azerbaijani presidency said additional Azerbaijani gas will be supplied through the upgraded transmission network systems of the four EU countries under the initiative called the “Solidarity Ring.” Aliyev said the deal was an important step in diversifying energy resources in the region. “This project made it possible to expand Azerbaijan”s national gas supply in Europe, and is already helping to strengthen Europe”s energy security,” Aliyev said. Noting that Azerbaijan delivered eight billion cubic meters (bcm) of gas to Europe in 2021, Aliyev said Baku”s target this year is to reach 12 bcm and the agreement would pave the way to export more gas to many more European countries. “Today, Azerbaijani gas is exported to Georgia, Türkiye, Greece, Bulgaria, Italy, and starting from this year Romania. By the end of this year, if all necessary interconnectors are in place, we plan to start gas supplies to Hungary and Slovakia,” Aliyev added.
REJECT ANY ATTEMPT TO RESTORE MUSLIM BAN: CAIR
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) on April 28 called on elected officials in both parties to condemn and reject any effort to reinstate the Muslim Ban, a travel ban on numerous Muslim-majority countries that was implemented during the Trump Administration and repealed by President Biden. In a statement, CAIR Government Affairs Director Robert S. McCaw said: “The Muslim Ban was a baseless act of bigotry that that robbed promising students of their educational opportunities, forced refugees eligible for asylum to perish in war zones, divided parents from their sick children, and reinforced anti-Muslim extremism at the highest level of power, among many other harms. We call on elected officials and other policymakers to oppose any effort to renew the Muslim Ban or any other policy that would unjustly deny individuals the right to travel based solely on their religious beliefs or nationality. Such actions are discriminatory and contradict the values our nation should uphold.” On January 27, 2017, President Trump enacted the first Muslim Ban, banning people from seven predominantly Muslim countries from entering the U.S.