Concerning A.W.P. vs Denmark for violation of articles 2, 20 and 27 of DACoRD.

On 18 April 2007, Member of Parliament (MP) and member of the Danish Popular Party (DPP) Søren Krarup, expressed his views in an article from the newspaper “Jyllands-Posten”, about allowing a female parliamentary candidate to speak in Parliament wearing her Muslim scarf. Mr. Krarup stated that “just like the Nazis believed that everyone from another race should be eliminated it is the belief in Islam that everyone of another faith must be converted and if not eliminated”. On 20 April 2007, MP Morten Messerschmidt from the DPP stated in an article from Nyhedsavisen that “Muslim societies are per definition losers. Muslims cannot think critically […] and this produces losers […]” On the same date, Member of the European Parliament Mogens Camre from the same political party stated in the same newspaper article that “the idea that a fundamentalist with headscarf should become member of the Danish Parliament is sick. She (the candidate for Parliament) needs mental treatment […]”.

The author is a Muslim. In his opinion, the statement comparing Islam with Nazism is a personal insult to him. Furthermore, it creates a hostile environment and concrete discrimination against him. The police decided not to prosecute the three above-mentioned members.Thus a complaint was sent to DACoRD. The Committee considers that the author has failed to establish that those specific statements had specific consequences for him, and therefore declares this communication to be inadmissible.