Swiss Ban Building of Minarets on Mosques - The New York Times The New York Times Europe |Swiss Ban Building of Minarets on Mosques Search By NICK CUMMING-BRUCE and STEVEN ERLANGER NOV. 29, 2009 Continue reading the main story GENEVA — In a vote that displayed a widespread anxiety about Islam and undermined the country’s reputation for religious tolerance, the Swiss on Sunday overwhelmingly imposed a national ban on the construction of minarets, the prayer towers of mosques, in a referendum drawn up by the far right and opposed by the government. The referendum, which passed with a clear majority of 57.5 percent of the voters and in 22 of Switzerland ’s 26 cantons, was a victory for the right. The vote against was 42.5 percent. Because the ban gained a majority of votes and passed in a majority of the cantons, it will be added to the Constitution. The Swiss Constitution guarantees freedom of religion, but the rightist Swiss People’s Party, or S.V.P., and a small religious party had proposed inserting a single sentence banning the construction of minarets, leading to the referendum.

The Swiss government said it would respect the vote and sought to reassure the Muslim population — mostly immigrants from other parts of Europe, like Kosovo and Turkey — that the minaret ban was “not a rejection of the Muslim community, religion or culture.” Advertisement While such concerns “have to be taken seriously,” she said in a statement, “The Federal Council takes the view that a ban on the construction of new minarets is not a feasible means of countering extremist tendencies.” Photo An illuminated minaret in Zurich. New ones are banned. Credit Alessandro Della Bella/European Pressphoto Agency The government must now draft a supporting law on the ban, a process that could take at least a year and could put Switzerland in breach of international conventions on human rights. Of 150 mosques or prayer rooms in Switzerland, only 4 have minarets, and only 2 more minarets are planned. None conduct the call to prayer. There are about 400,000 Muslims in a population of some 7.5 million people.

Close to 90 percent of Muslims in Switzerland are from Kosovo and Turkey, and most do not adhere to the codes of dress and conduct associated with conservative Muslim countries like Saudi Arabia, said Manon Schick, a spokeswoman for Amnesty International in Switzerland. “Most painful for us is not the minaret ban, but the symbol sent by this vote,” said Farhad Afshar, who runs the Coordination of Islamic Organizations in Switzerland. “Muslims do not feel accepted as a religious community.” The Swiss vote reflected a growing anxiety about Islam, especially its more fundamentalist forms, in many countries of Western Europe. France, for example, has been talking about banning the full Islamic veil as a way to stop the influence of the more fundamentalist Salafist forms of Islam, popular among some of the young and also converts. Pre-referendum polls had indicated a comfortable, if slowly shrinking, majority against the proposal, after a controversial campaign that played aggressively on the same fears of Muslim immigration and the spread of Islamic values that resonate in other parts of Europe.

Media Tenor International, which monitors television coverage, said that the main Swiss evening news programs tended to report about Islam “primarily in the context of terrorism and international conflict.” Representatives of Islam “were quoted only infrequently,” said the group’s president, Roland Schatz. Photo Walter Wobmann, president of the committee “Yes for a Ban on Minarets,” gave a thumbs-up in Egerkingen, Switzerland, on Sunday. Credit Marcel Bieri/Keystone, via Associated Press “That Switzerland, a country with a long tradition of religious tolerance and the provision of refuge to the persecuted, should have accepted such a grotesquely discriminatory proposal is shocking,” said David Diaz-Jogeix, Amnesty International’s deputy program director for Europe and Central Asia. Advertisement Continue reading the main story Campaign posters depicting a Swiss flag sprouting black, missile-shaped minarets alongside a woman shrouded in a niqab , a head-to-toe veil that shows only the eyes, starkly illustrated the determination of the right to play on deep-rooted fears that Muslim immigration would lead to an erosion of Swiss values.

In a recent televised debate, Ulrich Schlüer, a member of Parliament from the S.V.P., said minarets were a symbol of “the political will to take power” and establish Shariah, or religious law. Please verify you're not a robot by clicking the box. Invalid email address. Please re-enter. You must select a newsletter to subscribe to. Sign Up Privacy Policy He also claimed that Switzerland already suffered from thousands of forced marriages. That debate prompted the government to mount a public relations campaign overseas to try to avoid a backlash like the one Denmark faced in Islamic countries after a newspaper published cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad, and to avoid damage to lucrative commercial and banking ties with wealthy Muslims. Muslim leaders have tried to keep out of the spotlight and to avoid internationalizing the issue, shunning interviews with most news outlets from Muslim countries, according to Youssef Ibram, an imam at Geneva’s main mosque and Islamic Cultural Foundation. Still, the campaign was accompanied by sporadic shows of hostility. Last week, vandals threw stones and a pot of paint at Geneva’s main mosque. In an interview before the referendum, Mr.

Ibram said that whatever the outcome of the vote, Muslims would lose out from a campaign that had played on fears of Islam and exposed deep-seated opposition to their community among many Swiss. Nick Cumming-Bruce reported from Geneva, and Steven Erlanger from Paris. A version of this article appears in print on November 30, 2009, on Page A6 of the New York edition with the headline: In Bastion of Tolerance, Swiss Reject Construction of Minarets on Mosques. Order Reprints | Today's Paper | Subscribe Swiss vote to ban construction of minarets on mosques | World news | The Guardian Swiss vote to ban construction of minarets on mosques Vote represents blow to Switzerland's political establishment Sunday 29 November 2009 17.36 EST First published on Sunday 29 November 2009 17.36 EST Close This article is 7 years old Switzerland today became the first country in Europe to vote to curb the religious practices of Muslims when a referendum banning the construction of minarets on mosques was backed by a solid majority.

The surprise result, banning minarets in a country that has only four mosques with minarets and no major problems with Islamist militancy, stunned the Swiss establishment, which was bracing itself for a backlash in the Middle East. The result looks likely to cause strife where there was relative peace, sully the country's image abroad, damage investment and trade with the Muslim world, and set back efforts to integrate a population of some 400,000 Muslims, most of whom are European Muslims – and non-mosque-goers – from the Balkans. The campaign to ban minarets was described by the country's justice minister as a "proxy war" for drumming up conflict between ethnic Swiss and Muslim immigrants. But the ban was supported by a majority of 57.5%, 20 percentage points more than predicted in opinion polls in the run-up to the vote. "The federal council [the body that constitutes the federal government] respects this decision," said a government statement tonight . "The construction of new minarets in Switzerland is no longer permitted." While surprising, the verdict raised the question of whether such curbs on Muslims would be replicated across Europe were voters given their say.

If Switzerland is the only country in Europe to embark on such a ban, that may be because its system of plebiscitary democracy compels single-issue referendums if petitions amass enough signatures. Across Europe, far-right parties have been scoring gains in recent years on anti-Muslim and anti-immigrant platforms. The result represented a triumph for the far-right populist Swiss People's party, which organised the petition paving the way for the referendum. In opposition, the SPP became the strongest party in Switzerland two years ago largely by running a robust campaign, denounced as racist by the UN, against immigrants. The result also represented an act of mass defiance of the national establishment. The government, mainstream political parties, the churches, the main newspapers, the national president, the powerful business lobby, and the Vatican all opposed the ban, but it was backed by 22 of the country's 26 cantons on a national turnout of more than 53% .

As a result, the article of the national constitution regulating relations between the state and religion will be amended to include the bald statement: "The construction of minarets is forbidden." "The result is unworthy of Switzerland's tradition and history," said Farhad Afshar, a leading Swiss Muslim and Berne University sociologist. "Muslims are well-integrated here compared with France or Germany. This result has nothing to do with the Muslims living in Switzerland." The SPP said the minaret ban would "be implemented to the letter" and denounced senior church figures for the "alarming role" they played in the campaign. Opponents of the move in the government, churches and human rights organisations had argued a ban on minarets would infringe fundamental liberties and freedom of religion. Green Party leaders warned tonightthat the ban could be unconstitutional and threatened to try to overturn the verdict at the European court of human rights in Strasbourg. Ulrich Schlüer, an SPP MP who led the ban campaign, pointed out that the Strasbourg court had recently ruled against crucifixes in classrooms in Italy. "It now appears that Christian towns are not supposed to use Christian symbols," he said.

"But we're supposed to have Muslim symbols." The SPP said that going to the European court would breach the popular sovereignty that underpins the Swiss democratic model and tradition. It dismissed the arguments about freedom or religion, asserting that minarets were not a religious but a political symbol, and the thin end of a wedge that would bring sharia law to the country, with forced marriages, "honour" killings, female genital mutilation and oppression of women. A handful of recent applications for building permits for minarets in Switzerland, the no campaigners said, was proof to many Swiss "of the next step in the strategy of Islamification of our country. The fear is great that the minarets will be followed by the calls to prayer of the muezzin … sharia is gaining in importance in Switzerland and in Europe. That means honour killings, forced marriages, circumcision, wearing the burka, ignoring school rules, and even stoning." The prohibition also found substantial support on the left and among secularists worried about the status of women in Islamic cultures. Prominent feminists attacked minarets as male power symbols, deplored the oppression of Muslim women, and urged a vote for the ban.

The justice minister, Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf, a strong opponent of the ban, said the result reflected fears about Islamic fundamentalist tendencies. "The Federal Council [government] takes the view that a ban on the construction of new minarets is not a feasible means of countering extremist tendencies." She had previously criticised the prohibition campaign as a violation of human rights and as a "proxy war" for those seeking to stir up religious friction. Corine Mauch, the mayor of Zurich, who also opposed the ban, said the vote was "a fateful signal to the Muslim community". Swiss business is worried that the anti-Muslim vote could have a serious impact on trade with the Arab world. More immediately, there is concern for two Swiss businessmen abducted in Libya last year after Colonel Muammar Gaddafi's son and daughter-in-law were arrested in a Geneva hotel on suspicion of mistreating their staff.

The two Swiss, regarded as hostages, were handed over to the Swiss embassy in Tripoli earlier this month but have still been denied exit visas and could yet face trial.End Europe's tense relations with Islam Dutch films Theo van Gogh, the outspoken film-maker and polemicist, was stabbed to death in Amsterdam in 2004 by a Muslim, causing national and international outrage. Geert Wilders is riding high in Dutch politics on an anti-Muslim platform after making an incendiary film about Islamic practices, calling for the banning of the Qur'an and an end to Muslim immigration. Danish cartoons The country was plunged into crisis with the Arab and Islamic world in 2005 after a Copenhagen newspaper published a set of cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad regarded as sacrilegious and offensive to Muslims. The episode triggered intense debate over freedom of expression and its limits, and hate speech. French burkas Nicolas Sarkozy is pushing to ban the burka, arguing this month that it breaches rigorous French adherence to public secularism. The French president's statements follow years of argument and legal disputes over the wearing of Islamic veils and headdresses in schools and public places.

German mosques A dispute has broken out over one of Europe's biggest mosques, being built in Cologne. There are similar disputes in Denmark, France, Italy, Austria and the Netherlands. Swiss Vote on Controversial Proposal to Ban Islamic Minarets Swiss Vote on Controversial Proposal to Ban Islamic Minarets Last Updated: November 29, 2009 2:58 AM Share Email to a Friend Print The growth of Muslim communities across western Europe has raised concerns among non-Muslims about Islamic influence on local cultures Swiss voters are casting ballots Sunday in a referendum on amending the country's constitution to ban the construction of Islamic minarets. The nationalist Swiss People's Party and a fringe party, the Federal Democratic Union Party, are behind the controversial proposal. Many nationalists say they have no problem with the construction of mosques in Switzerland. But they say they object to minarets -- tall spires that many mosques have -- from which religious leaders call the faithful to prayer. Supporters of the ban say minarets are often paid for by extremists and used as a political symbol, which they say violates the Swiss constitution. And, they argue that minarets are not obligatory in Islam.

Other Swiss - Muslim and non-Muslim - see the referendum as a threat to religious freedom. Switzerland has an estimated 400,000 Muslims, about five percent of the population. There are four minarets in the small Alpine country. The growth of Muslim communities across western Europe has raised concerns among non-Muslims about Islamic influence on local cultures. Protests against building new mosques have taken place in many countries. France has banned all religious symbols in public schools, including head coverings for Muslim girls. Some information for this report provided by AFP, AP and Reuters. Swiss vote to ban construction of minarets | Europe | DW.COM | 29.11.2009 Europe Swiss vote to ban construction of minarets Voters in Switzerland have approved a referendum that bans the construction of minarets, Swiss media are reporting. The surprise result is certain to embarrass the government and dismay the country's Muslim minority. A clear majority of Swiss voted to ban the construction of minarets The Swiss news agency ATS and other media outlets report that a clear majority, 57.5 percent of voters and all but four of Switzerland's 26 cantons approved the proposal in this nationwide referendum.

Of eligible voters, 53 percent turned out to vote. The government has said it will respect the decision of the people and would no longer permit the construction of new minarets in Switzerland, but tried to assure the Muslim minority that the ban was "not a rejection of the Muslim community, religion or culture." "Muslims in Switzerland are able to practice their religion alone or in community with others and live according to their beliefs just as before," it said in a statement. The right-wing Swiss People's Party (SVP), Switzerland's biggest party, was the driving force behind the referendum, along with the conservative Federal Democratic Union. They succeeded in gathering 100,000 signatures within 18 months, which is needed to call a referendum under Swiss law. Ban supporters say that minarets - like this one in Geneva - represent claims to power The SVP said Switzerland's four existing minarets are not mere architectural features on religious buildings but represent a "political-religious claim to power, which challenges fundamental rights." "We're enormously happy," said Walter Wobmann, president of the initiative committee.

"It is a victory for this people, this Switzerland, this freedom and those who want a democratic society." Earlier, he had told Reuters that the goal was to stop "further Islamization in Switzerland." "People may practice their religion, that is no problem," he said. Muslim dismay Some 400,000 Muslims live in Switzerland, making them the nation's second largest religious group. "The most painful for us is not the minaret ban, but the symbol sent by this vote," said Farhad Afshar, head of the Coordination of Islamic Organizations in Switzerland. "Muslims do not feel accepted as a religious community." Nadia Karmous, president of the Cultural Association of Muslim Women in Switzerland, told Le Temps newspaper: "I feel sad for Switzerland. Imagine the impact abroad. The image of the (country) is already that of a racist country." The conference of Swiss Bishops also criticized the result, saying that it "heightens the problems of cohabitation between religions and cultures." Direct democracy The referendum was held using Switzerland's system of "direct democracy," which allows individuals and groups to propose laws which are then put to a public ballot, bypassing parliament.

The SVP's referendum poster has been criticized as "sinister" and "racist" The collective executive branch of the government - the Swiss Federal Council - criticized the vote, saying it could damage Switzerland's image in the Arab world, and make the country appear intolerant of religious diversity. The government had encouraged Swiss people to vote against the ban. "Muslims should be able to practice their religion and have access to minarets in Switzerland, too," President Hans-Rudolf Merz said in a last-minute video broadcast to the nation. "But the call of the muezzin will not sound here." Foreign Minister Micheline Calmy-Rey said she was "shocked" and "deeply regretted" the outcome, which she said had to be seen in the context of globalization and the economic crisis. "Fears and anxieties were played on," she told reporters. rb/msh/AFP/dpa BBC News - Swiss voters back ban on minarets Swiss voters back ban on minarets There are only four minarets in Switzerland Swiss voters have supported a referendum proposal to ban the building of minarets, official results show.

More than 57% of voters and 22 out of 26 cantons - or provinces - voted in favour of the ban. The proposal had been put forward by the Swiss People's Party, (SVP), the largest party in parliament, which says minarets are a sign of Islamisation. The government opposed the ban, saying it would harm Switzerland's image, particularly in the Muslim world. But Martin Baltisser, the SVP's general secretary, told the BBC: "This was a vote against minarets as symbols of Islamic power." The BBC's Imogen Foulkes, in Bern, says the surprise result is very bad news for the Swiss government which fears unrest among the Muslim community. Our correspondent says voters worried about rising immigration - and with it the rise of Islam - have ignored the government's advice. In a statement, the government said it accepted the decision. It said: "The Federal Council (government) respects this decision.

Consequently the construction of new minarets in Switzerland is no longer permitted." This will cause major problems because during this campaign mosques were attacked, which we never experienced in 40 years in Switzerland Tamir Hadjipolu Result "reflects unease with Islam" Justice Minister Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf said: "Concerns [about Islamic fundamentalism] have to be taken seriously. "However, a ban on the construction of new minarets is not a feasible means of countering extremist tendencies." She sought to reassure Swiss Muslims, saying the decision was "not a rejection of the Muslim community, religion or culture". Switzerland is home to some 400,000 Muslims and has just four minarets. After Christianity, Islam is the most widespread religion in Switzerland, but it remains relatively hidden. There are unofficial Muslim prayer rooms, and planning applications for new minarets are almost always refused. Supporters of a ban claimed that allowing minarets would represent the growth of an ideology and a legal system - Sharia law - which are incompatible with Swiss democracy. But others say the referendum campaign incited hatred. On Thursday the Geneva mosque was vandalised for the third time during the campaign, according to local media.

Amnesty International said the vote violated freedom of religion and would probably be overturned by the Swiss supreme court or the European Court of Human Rights. 'Political symbol' The president of Zurich's Association of Muslim Organisations, Tamir Hadjipolu, told the BBC: "This will cause major problems because during this campaign mosques were attacked, which we never experienced in 40 years in Switzerland. "Islamaphobia has increased intensively." And there was dismay among Switzerland's Muslims upon hearing the result. It's a message that you are not welcome here as true citizens of this society Elham Manea, co-founder of the Forum for a Progressive Islam Farhad Afshar, president of the Coordination of Islamic Organisations in Switzerland, said: "The most painful thing for us is not the ban on minarets but the symbol sent by this vote. "Muslims do not feel accepted as a religious community." Elham Manea, co-founder of the Forum for a Progressive Islam, added: "My fear is that the younger generation will feel unwelcome.

"It's a message that you are not welcome here as true citizens of this society." Sunday's referendum was held after the SVP collected 100,000 signatures from voters within 18 months calling for a vote. In recent years countries across Europe have been debating how best to integrate Muslim populations. France focused on the headscarf, while in Germany there was controversy over plans to build one of Europe's largest mosques. Bookmark with: Swiss Approve Minaret Ban In Referendum Swiss Approve Minaret Ban In Referendum November 29, 2009 The four minarets already standing in Switzerland would not be affected by the ban. Share Print (RFE/RL) -- Swiss voters have approved a move to ban the construction of new minarets in the country. Final results show that over 57 percent of voters backed the proposal in a referendum that was held today following an initiative by a right wing political party. Turnout was reported at about 55 percent. Switzerland, home to some 400,000 Muslims, already has four minarets attached to mosques that will remain even after today’s referendum.

The Swiss government had urged voters to reject the proposed ban on new minarets, saying it would violate religious freedom and human rights, as well as potentially provoking Islamist radicalism and harming Switzerland’s image. But in a statement today, the government said it respects the decision of the voters. "A majority of the Swiss people and the cantons have adopted the popular initiative against the construction of minarets. The Federal Council respects this decision," the statement said. The controversial proposal to ban minarets was brought up by the right wing Swiss People’s party, which says minarets are symbols of rising Muslim political and religious power that could eventually turn Switzerland into an Islamic nation. Campaigners demanded the referendum to halt "political Islamization" by amending the Swiss constitution to add a clause stating "the construction of minarets is prohibited." ‘Political Symbol’ The referendum was called after campaigners collected the 100,000 signatures required to put the question to a nationwide vote. Right wing politician Ulrich Schluer from the Swiss People's Party told the Swiss website swissinfo.ch that minarets symbolize a political-religious claim to power.

“We do not forbid Islam -- we forbid the political symbol of Islamization, and this is the minaret,” Schluer said. “The minaret has nothing to do with religion; the minaret is a symbol of political victory [of Islam]. The first thing the Turks did when they conquered Constinople -- they installed a minaret on the top of the most important church.” Amnesty International has warned that the ban would violate Switzerland's obligations to freedom of religious expression. Agencies report that partial results from the poll indicate that the German-speaking canton of Lucerne accepted the ban. But the French-speaking cantons of Geneva and Vaud have reportedly voted against. "I'm shocked by this initiative, by this answer I've given you my position. I'm against this initiative because I think it's [an example of] intolerance," one voter told Reuters in Geneva. Early results suggest that 55 percent of voters have backed the initiative. Swiss media report that ahead of the referendum, opinion polls had predicted the ban would not receive voters’ support.

Claude Longchamp, leader of the gfs.bern polling institute, is quoted by the Associated Press as saying that the projection also forecasts approval by more than half of the country's 26 cantons, meaning it will become a constitutional amendment. Tensions ran high ahead of the referendum as voters grappled with sensitive issues linked to immigration. Related Swiss vote to ban minaret construction - CNN.com Mixx Facebook Twitter Digg delicious reddit MySpace StumbleUpon LinkedIn Swiss vote to ban minaret construction A passer-by argues with politicians carring a mockup of a minaret at a protest against the referendum in Lausanne. STORY HIGHLIGHTS Swiss voters adopt referendum banning construction of minarets, seen by some on far right as sign of encroaching Islamism Four existing minarets, tall spires that help to identify a mosque, in Switzerland will remain Move to amend constitution to ban new construction is part of campaign by nationalist Swiss People's Party Party says minarets are political symbols and therefore go against country's constitution (CNN) -- Swiss voters on Sunday adopted a referendum banning the construction of minarets, seen by some on the far right as a sign of encroaching Islamism.

"The Federal Council respects this decision," said a statement from Switzerland's government. "Consequently the construction of new minarets in Switzerland is no longer permitted. The four existing minarets will remain. "It will also be possible to continue to construct mosques," the government statement said. "Muslims in Switzerland are able to practice their religion alone or in community with others, and live according to their beliefs just as before." As of 10 a.m. ET, 57 percent of voters had cast ballots in favor of the ban, according to Swiss media reports. Minarets are tall spires extending from mosques or built next to them. They help identify a mosque and also serve as a spot where a religious leader can call the faithful to daily prayers. The move to amend the constitution to ban new construction is part of a campaign by the nationalist Swiss People's Party (SVP). The party says the minarets are political symbols and therefore go against the the country's constitution. It designed fliers that feature a veiled woman against a background of a Swiss flag pierced by several minarets resembling missiles.

The Federal Commission against Racism denounced the posters, saying they "defame Switzerland's peaceful Muslim population, feed prejudice and portray the Muslim community as wanting to dominate Switzerland, oppress women and trample on fundamental rights." Switzerland's Federal Council and a majority of members of Parliament opposed the initiative, the government statement said, and officials interpret the vote as reflecting "fears among the population of Islamic fundamentalist tendencies." "...These concerns have to be taken seriously," the statement said. "The Federal Council has always done so and will continue to do so in the future. However, the Federal Council takes the view that a ban on the construction of new minarets is not a feasible means of countering extremist tendencies." The SVP has courted controversy with its campaigns in the past. In 2007, it faced international criticism for leading an anti-immigration campaign during the federal election that featured a poster with a white sheep kicking a black sheep off a Swiss flag. Under party leader Christoph Blocher, it went on to win the biggest share of the vote in the 200-member parliament, taking 55 seats.

Earlier this year, the party issued a poster depicting crows pecking at a map of Switzerland, as the country prepared to vote on whether to support an extension of a free movement of labor deal with the European Union that would include new members Bulgaria and Romania. Share this on: "Therefore, there's no room for minarets in Switzerland." But Switzerland's Muslims said that the referendum had fuelled anti-Islamic feeling in the country. "The initiators have achieved something everyone wanted to prevent, and that is to influence and change the relations to Muslims and their social integration in a negative way," Taner Hatipoglu, the president of the Federation of Islamic Organisations in Zurich, said. "We are frightened, and if the atmosphere continues to be like this and if the anti-Islamic hate increases, then the Muslims indeed will not feel safe anymore. This of course is very unpleasant." About 400,000 Muslims live in Switzerland, whose population is just under eight million. Most Muslim citizens are immigrants from the former Yugoslavia and Turkey. Although Islam is the country's second largest religion after Christianity, there are only four mosques with minarets in the whole country.

Posters by those backing the ban showed a figure of a woman shrouded from head to foot in a burka. Behind her is the Swiss flag, shaped like a map of the country, with black minarets shooting up out of it like missiles. The cities of Basel, Lausanne and Fribourg banned the billboards, saying they painted a "racist, disrespectful and dangerous image" of Islam. The United Nations Human Rights Committee called the posters discriminatory and said Switzerland would violate international law if it bans minarets. Source: Al Jazeera and agencies Related Swiss ban on minarets draws widespread condemnation | World news | The Guardian Swiss ban on minarets draws widespread condemnation Muslim leaders and senior church figures around the world denounce decision amid fears of 'upsurge in Islamophobia' A minaret on the roof of a Turkish cultural centre in Wangen bei Olten, north-western Switzerland. Photograph: Fabrice Coffrini/AFP/Getty Images Close This article is 7 years old Muslim leaders from around the world, senior church figures, European politicians and human rights experts have deplored Switzerland's decision to ban the building of minarets.

The polarising verdict in a Swiss referendum held yesterday raised fundamental questions about discrimination and freedom of religion, with the Swiss government itself doubtful over whether the popular vote could be translated into national law, as required by the country's system of direct democracy. "Scandalous," said the French foreign minister, Bernard Kouchner, while Babacar Ba, a senior official of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference, warned of an "upsurge in Islamophobia" in Europe . But far right leaders in Europe applauded the Swiss vote and called for parallel prohibitions in other countries. "The flag of a courageous Switzerland which wants to remain Christian is flying over a near-Islamised Europe," said Mario Borghezio, an MEP from Italy's anti-immigrant Northern League. In the Netherlands, the anti-Muslim Freedom party of Geert Wilders, which is steadily growing in popularity, called for a similar vote for the Dutch. "It's the first time that people in Europe have stood up to a form of Islamisation," it declared. Despite Swiss fears of a violent backlash in the Islamic world and business fears of an adverse impact on Arab spending in Geneva and Zurich, as well as exports to the Middle East, Muslim leaders reacted mostly with sorrow.

"The main thing is to keep calm and to realise how much work still needs to be done to defend basic freedoms," said Ba, the OIC ambassador in Geneva."We must do this by taking a constructive part in the debate on all issues which cause fear and concern, and to try to bring people together in order to confront extremism." The surprisingly high vote of 57% for the minaret ban put the Swiss government and establishment on the defensive, engaged in damage limitation. In Brussels, the Swiss justice minister, Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf, who opposed a ban, argued that the vote was neither against the Muslim community nor against Islam . She sought to explain the decision to EU interior ministers, some of whom were highly critical. The Vatican denounced the ban as an infringement of religious freedom. Roman Catholic bishops in Swizerland issued a statement regretting the ban, accusing the rightwing Swiss People's party, which spearheaded the prohibition campaign, of caricaturing and exaggerating the alleged threat posed by Muslims, and also warned that the ban "will not help Christians oppressed and persecuted in Islamic countries". Under the rules of Switzerland's direct democracy, which leans heavily on single issue referenda, yesterday's vote compels the government to amend the constitution.

The article defining church-state relations will acquire a new sentence stating: "the building of minarets in Switzerland is forbidden". But the government and parliament knows that this will breach the European convention on human rights and the UN charter proscribing discrimination on religious grounds and entrenching freedom of religion. The clause would be discriminatory because it singles out one religion, Islam, for restrictive treatment.The backers of the campaign respond that this is irrelevant since minarets have nothing to do with religion, but are a "political symbol". Mosque-building is not being banned and Muslims in Switzerland are free to observe their religion, they argue. While there are only four minarets in a country that is home to 400,000 Muslims, a dispute over the erection of another minaret in the town of Langenthal is stuck in the courts amid appeals and counter-appeals about building licences. The case could now end up at the European court of human rights in Strasbourg, taking years to be settled.

Switzerland Defends Ban on Mosque Minarets | Fox News Switzerland Defends Ban on Mosque Minarets Published November 30, 2009 GENEVA – Switzerland says the country's new ban on the building of minarets is not aimed at Muslims but at Islamic fundamentalism. Swiss Justice Minister Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf says her country supports religious freedoms. She says Sunday's referendum, during which voters overwhelmingly approved a constitutional ban on minarets, was not "a referendum against Islam ... but a vote directed against fundamentalist developments." Widmer-Schlumpf spoke on arrival Monday at a meeting with EU justice ministers. Switzerland is not an EU member but has close and regular contacts with the EU. LIVESHOTS: Swiss Minarets a Tolerance Test for Europe? Swiss voters support barring construction of the iconic mosque towers in a surprise vote that put Switzerland at the forefront of a European backlash against a growing Muslim population. Muslim groups in Switzerland and abroad condemned the vote as biased and anti-Islamic. Business groups said the decision hurt Switzerland's international standing and could damage relations with Muslim nations and wealthy investors who bank, travel and shop there.

"The Swiss have failed to give a clear signal for diversity, freedom of religion and human rights," said Omar Al-Rawi, integration representative of the Islamic Denomination in Austria , which said its reaction was "grief and deep disappointment." The referendum by the nationalist Swiss People's Party labeled minarets as symbols of rising Muslim political power that could one day transform Switzerland into an Islamic nation. The initiative was approved 57.5 to 42.5 percent by some 2.67 million voters. Only four of the 26 cantons or states opposed the initiative, granting the double approval that makes it part of the Swiss constitution. Muslims comprise about 6 percent of Switzerland's 7.5 million people. Many are refugees from the Yugoslav wars of the 1990s and about one in 10 actively practices their religion, the government says. The country's four standing minarets, which won't be affected by the ban, do not traditionally broadcast the call to prayer outside their own buildings. The sponsors of the initiative provoked complaints of bias from local officials and human-rights group with campaign posters that showed minarets rising like missiles from the Swiss flag next to a fully veiled woman.

Backers said the growing Muslim population was straining the country "because Muslims don't just practice religion." "The minaret is a sign of political power and demand, comparable with whole-body covering by the burqa, tolerance of forced marriage and genital mutilation of girls," the sponsors said. They noted that Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has compared mosques to Islam's military barracks and called "the minarets our bayonets." Anxieties about growing Muslim minorities have rippled across Europe in recent years, leading to legal changes in some countries. There have been French moves to ban the full-length body covering known as the burqa. Some German states have introduced bans on head scarves for Muslim women teaching in public schools. Mosques and minaret construction projects in Sweden , France , Italy , Austria, Greece , Germany and Slovenia have been met by protests. But the Swiss ban in minarets, sponsored by the country's largest political party, was one of the most extreme reactions. "It's a sad day for freedom of religion," said Mohammed Shafiq, the chief executive of the Ramadhan Foundation, a British youth organization.

"A constitutional amendment that's targeted towards one religious community is discriminatory and abhorrent." He said he was concerned the decision could have reverberations in other European countries. Amnesty International said the vote violated freedom of religion and would probably be overturned by the Swiss supreme court or the European Court of Human Rights. The seven-member Cabinet that heads the Swiss government had spoken out strongly against the initiative but the government said it accepted the vote and would impose an immediate ban on minaret construction. It said that "Muslims in Switzerland are able to practice their religion alone or in community with others, and live according to their beliefs just as before." It took the unusual step of issuing its press release in Arabic as well as German, French, Italian and English. Sunday's results stood in stark contrast to opinion polls, last taken 10 days ago, that showed 37 percent supporting the proposal. Experts said before the vote that they feared Swiss had pretended during the polling that they opposed the ban because they didn't want to appear intolerant.

"The sponsors of the ban have achieved something everyone wanted to prevent, and that is to influence and change the relations to Muslims and their social integration in a negative way," said Taner Hatipoglu, president of the Federation of Islamic Organizations in Zurich. "Muslims indeed will not feel safe anymore." The People's Party has campaigned mainly unsuccessfully in previous years against immigrants with campaign posters showing white sheep kicking a black sheep off the Swiss flag and another with brown hands grabbing eagerly for Swiss passports. Geneva's main mosque was vandalized Thursday when someone threw a pot of pink paint at the entrance. Earlier this month, a vehicle with a loudspeaker drove through the area imitating a muezzin's call to prayer, and vandals damaged a mosaic when they threw cobblestones at the building.

Question: A 2009 referendum in which country banned the construction of new Islamic minarets?
Answer: Switzerland