Author:
Publication: Sify News
Date: January 15, 2004
URL: http://sify.com/news/fullstory.php?id=13361137
An imam was sentenced to prison
in Spain on Wednesday for inciting violence against women in a 1997 book
that gave detailed instructions to Muslim men on how to beat their wives,
judicial officials said.
Mohammed Kamal Mustafa, 44, who
has been the imam of Fuengirola in the southern Costa del Sol region for
the past 12 years, was convicted of "inciting violence on the basis of
gender" by a court in Barcelona.
In a book entitled "Women in Islam",
Mustafa discussed the "restraints imposed" by Islam "concerning the physical
punishment" of women. "The beatings must be administered to specific parts
of the body, such as the feet and hands, using a stick that is not too
big so as not to leave scars and bruises," he wrote.
"The beatings must not be too harsh
because the goal is to cause psychological suffering and not to humiliate
or physically abuse," he added. Mustafa was sentenced to one year and three
months in prison and fined nine euros (seven dollars) a day for eight days.
His lawyer Jose Luis Bravo said he planned to appeal the conviction, saying
it was "unfair" and the result of "media pressure".
During his trial, Mustafa said he
was against wife-beating and that his book was merely a compilation of
sacred Muslim texts on women. But the judge ruled that the cleric had sought
to portray his opinions as those of a theological expert on Islam, presenting
"his own views on the husband's rights to punish his rebel wife".
"The whole work has an obsolete
male chauvinist tone, in some instances very pronounced which violates
the constitutional principle of equality," he said. And the comments attacked
the right to "physical and moral integrity" enshrined in the Spanish constitution,
the judge added.
Two groups representing Spanish
Muslims, the Federation of Muslim Entities and the Islamic Commission,
had come forward ahead of the trial to state that the Koran and other sacred
texts condemned violence against women. The trial was the result of a complaint
presented in 2000 by about 100 women's groups which welcomed the outcome
of the trial.
Women's rights' groups said Wednesday
they were "very satisfied" because the case "is progress in the fight against
violence against women", their spokeswoman and lawyer Maria Jose Varela
said. "It is now clear that you cannot use religion like a shield...,"
she added.
"All religions have historical pasts
that are strongly discriminatory against women but to use texts of historical
bygone eras is not fighting for religious freedom but trying to avoid application
of the law," she added. Violence against women has become a hot-button
issue in Spain over the past years.
