Press Release
The Minister of Integration Staggers after Pressure from Muslim Organizations and Experts

Since the last press release of Hizb ut Tahrir, there has been quite a lot of media focus on our campaign against state and mind control of Muslim families, and especially one poster received attention. We are however not the only ones who have criticized the Social and Integration Minister, Manu Sareen. The recent encouragement of the Minister, to frequently force remove Muslim children when there is suspicion of "radicalization", has not passed unnoticed.

Several Muslim organizations have signed a common statement, where this procedure is condemned and judicial experts were also quick to raise harsh criticism. It seems that the criticism from experts and a collective front of Muslim organizations has imposed heavy pressure on the Minister, because suddenly he tries to displace responsibility and ironically accuse others of "digging ditches".

It appears in several interviews, that Manu Sareen does not "understand" the criticism of Hizb ut Tahrir, and among others, he said: "...it is really a puzzle to me". Either it is a very poor attempt to pull back because the pressure became too heavy, or the Minister is suffering from sudden amnesia. Notwithstanding the cause, we will with pleasure give a reminder and thereby turn focus back on the right track. Just after the news of the force removal of a teenager due to "suspicion of radicalization", Manu Sareen said, "Force removal of youth from homes, where there is fear of them being radicalized is part of a new form of prevention, that one has to relate to". He also stated, "If you do not prevent, you will not stop extremism, and force removal is also part of the prevention... I think that is reasonable".

When one compares statements with definitions, it can only be understood as a clear encouragement to counties and social counselors, to make use of this very extensive intervention more often, and not only in cases where you could fear for damage to the youth or others. The intervention is therefore an expression of an extreme form of mind control of Muslim families, which you do not even find in the most totalitarian states.

The Chairman of the Danish Social Counselor Union, Majbrit Berlau, stated that Muslims have nothing to fear, because "...it is surrounded with extremely high rule of law, when you remove a child by force". She just, very conveniently, forgets to mention that the whole procedure is directly skipped, by a so-called "chairman decision" in the Child and Youth Counsel of the County. She further claims that the government does not regard religion as radicalization.

Insight to religion and Islam is obviously not Berlau's expertise. The so-called "signs of concern", which Danish Secret Service (PET) teach to social counselors, are very wide and often cover completely normal Islamic obligations or positions. Recently, 300 social counselors from the county of South and Southern Jutland were on "attention course". In this connection, one of the participants explained that one of the taught signs of concern is relation to anti-democratic movements with affiliation to Islam. Movements which are non-violent and which have never used violence as means.

Even though these statements from Manu Sareen and his apparatus are clearly inconsistent and most of all look like a mixture of empty rhetoric, populism and disclaimer of responsibility, they have to be taken seriously; because as the Minister himself states in a comment to our criticism, "words do create reality".

We, in Hizb ut Tahrir, protect the Muslim community and safe guard the Islamic values and the right of the Muslims to raise their children according to their conviction. We guarantee the Danish government, Manu Sareen and the Danish counties that we are observing even their smallest steps, and that we will expose every attack they direct against Islam and Muslims.

Junes Kock
Media Representative for Hizb ut Tahrir in Scandinavia