Additional Reporting By Mustafa Abdel-Halim, IOL Staff

COPENHAGEN, February 18 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - The Danish government announced Tuesday, February 18, changes to the immigration laws, in a measure specifically targeting Muslim scholars.

Danish Prime Minister Anders Rasmussen said after a cabinet meeting that access to a Danish residence permit for foreign religious scholars has been too easy up until now.

"That is why we now put forward new requirements for residing in the country, like the demand that imams and others have an education and that they be financially self-sufficient," Rasmussen was quoted as saying by Agence France-Presse (AFP).

The proposed changes, which parliament is expected to rapidly pass into law, are part of a deal reached last September between the Liberal-Conservative government, its far-right ally the Danish People's Party (DPP), and the opposition Social Democrats.

They are designed, in part, to prevent Muslim scholars from staying in the country and clip the wings of those already living in the tiny European country.

"In theory, these rules concern all clerics from all religions. But in practice, they target the imams," DPP spokesman Peter Skaarup told journalists in September.

The DPP confirmed the immigration changes were aimed to curb the activities of imams.

‘Propagandist’ 

Muslims - estimated at 170,000 (around 3 per cent of population) - sounded the alarms that much more restrictive steps would be taken by the government in future.

"The government seeks to target Muslim scholars only for propaganda means - they want to curry favor with the right-wing DPP," Ahmed Abu Labn, the head of the Islamic endowment office in Copenhagen, told IslamOnline.net Wednesday, February 18.

Labn denied the government’s claims that Muslim imams are delaying the integration process of Muslims in the country.

He said government officials were had concerns as to the growing number of Danish people embracing Islam in the European country.

Islam is Denmark's second largest religion after the Lutheran Protestant Church, which is actively followed by four-fifths of the country's population of 5.3 million.

Another Islamic scholar admitted that some imams cause problems in some European countries because of their scant knowledge of the situation on the ground, where Muslims are a minority and face laws different from those enforced in their home countries.

"Some imams have already tarnished the image of Islam by their ignorance of the situation on the ground," Adli Abu Hajjar, the secretary general of the European Islamic Council, told IOL.

The council groups most of the Islamic groups and bodies in the European continent.

The Dutch government had asked imams and preachers in mosques across the country to use the Dutch language  in their sermons, and pressed them to convince members of the Islamic minority to comply with the values and customs of the society.

Refugee Restrictions 

The government also announced intentions to step up measures against people who helped hide rejected asylum seekers so they would not be expelled from the country.

"The fines inflicted on those who break the law by hiding refugees have been insufficient. We therefore propose more severe sanctions against the offenders," Rasmussen said.

The new restrictive laws could also affect refugees who have been given asylum in Denmark - allowing the loss of residence permits for those who decide to return to their home countries on holidays.

The government also proposed a 10-year "quarantine period" for any refugees convicted of violence against a former wife or girlfriend, before they can bring their current spouse to Denmark as part of the country's family reunification program.

Dutch Expulsion 

Moving to The Netherlands, MPs passed a controversial law Tuesday allowing for the mass expulsion of 26,000 failed asylum seekers from the country.

The unprecedented move was a blow to the country’s reputation of tolerance and set a tough benchmark for Europe's asylum policies, New York Times reported.

The potential deportees are mostly from Muslim countries, including Somalis, Afghans, and Chechens who may be sent back to countries without a functioning government and still affected by violence.

But the government has insisted that those genuinely at risk would not be forced to leave, said the Times.

The law will affect people who arrived in the country before April 2001.

The coalition government defended its stance by saying the measure was outlined in its election manifesto and by pointing out that Dutch voters gave it a large majority last year, said the American paper.

The Netherlands has already opened a number of deportation centers where entire families are detained before being forced onto flights home. Those who fail to leave may be imprisoned and deprived of benefits, it added.

An opinion poll at the weekend showed that two-thirds of the population were in favor of an amnesty for asylum seekers who have been living in the Netherlands for more than five years.

Source : http://www.islamonline.net/English/News/2004-02/18/article06.shtml