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Dutch news



Parliament approves imam as army chaplain

Published: Tuesday 21 April 2009 15:38 UTC
Last updated: Tuesday 21 April 2009 17:53 UTC
The Dutch parliament has approved the appointment of a controversial imam as a chaplain to the armed forces. A motion calling for his appointment to be cancelled was defeated by 70 votes to 69. Voting in favour of the motion were the Christian Democrats, the conservative VVD, the small rightwing SGP, Geert Wilders' PVV and Rita Verdonk's party.

Imam Ali Eddaoudi is regarded as controversial because of his remark about Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende being "less worthy than a doormat" and his claim that Christians are still at war with Islam. Many MPs argued that someone with views like this should not be working for the armed forces. Mr Eddaoudi, who has now distanced himself from his earlier remarks, has in the past also been critical of Muslims.

The position of the Christian Democrats MPs was unusual, since they were opposing the stance taken by their own deputy defence minister Jack de Vries, who has consistently backed the imam. Questioned about his disagreement with his own party, Mr De Vries said that, "after a double check," he still considered Mr Eddaoudi the right man for the job.