When not performed out of medical necessity, circumcisions constitute a 'severe and irreversible interference into physical integrity,' Cologne judges rule
Parents having their sons circumcised can be brought before a judge for causing bodily injury, even if they did so for religious reasons, a regional court in Germany has ruled.
The recent landmark decision will likely draw the condemnation of Jewish and Moslem communities, although official representatives have refrained from commenting so far, saying they first want to study the reasons given for the judgment.
Following the judgment by the District Court of Cologne, neither the rights of parents nor the constitutional freedom of religion can justify interventions such as circumcision, according to Financial Times Deutschland, which first reported the story.
University of Passau jurist Holm Putzke told the FTD the decision could have far-reaching ramifications.
"As opposed to many politicians, the court was not deterred by fears of being criticized for anti-Semitism or hostility toward religion," he said. "This decision could not only influence future jurisdiction, it could also lead the relevant religions to change their attitude with respect to the fundamental nature of children's rights."
The case that prompted the ruling took place in Cologne, when a 4-year-old boy, circumcised by a Moslem doctor, began bleeding two days after the surgery and needed to be brought into the emergency room.
The state prosecutor's office learned of the case and sued, leading the district court to rule that the circumcision was a "severe and irreversible interference into physical integrity."
Today, there are about 200,000 Jews in Germany, about 5,000 of them in the western city of Cologne.
Legal experts told the paper they assume that other courts in Germany could deal with similar cases and that the question of religiously motivated circumcisions will end up in the country's Supreme Court.
The online edition of the Jewish Press website quoted Rabbi Aryeh Goldberg, vice president of the Rabbinical Center of Europe, saying the Courts decision is unacceptable and gravely violates religious freedom.
He added that the decision is contrary to human rights ...which are usually open to widely divergent definitions... charter of the European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... , to which the German legal system is committed, and undermines the basic right to worship in the German Constitution.
It is not the first time that Colognes prosecutorial and legal system has triggered national controversy in Germany.
In 2010, the public prosecutor ruled that a cartoon exhibit, widely believed to be anti-Semitic, did not meet the criteria of incitement to hate because it did not constitute hatred of Jews and the petitioner, who objected to the exhibit, was not Jewish. One cartoon shows a man sporting a Star of David on his bib as he devours a young Paleostinian boy with a fork draped in an American flag and a knife with the word Gazoo. A glass filled with blood stands next to to his dinner plate. Gerd Buurmann, the non- Jewish resident, who termed the exhibit anti-Semitic, has waged a two-year campaign to prevent the permanent cartoon and photo exhibit to be displayed on the central square in Cologne.
He filed a criminal complaint against Walter Herrmann, the organizer of the anti-Israel exhibit, for violating Paragraph 130, an anti-hate-crime law that bars incitement against minority groups. Colognes prosecutor rejected the complaint.
#2
The state prosecutor's office learned of the case and sued, leading the district court to rule that the circumcision was a "severe and irreversible interference into physical integrity."
Are we still "tood to go" with Intraamniotic Injection of Saline?
#7
They had this same sort of penilelitist issue on the ballot in The National Socialist People's Rainbow Republic of San Francisco but cooler heads eventually prevailed, and the issue was yanked.
Western intelligence officials have long feared such a scenario - a convert to Islam who is trained in terrorist methods and can blend in easily in Europe and the U.S., traveling without visa restrictions.
Officials from three European security agencies confirmed Monday the man is "operational," meaning he has completed his training and is about to receive a target. All spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the case publicly. They declined to name the man, who has not been accused of a crime.
European security services, including in Norway, have warned in recent years of homegrown, radicalized Mohammedans traveling to terror training camps in conflict zones. Many of the known cases involve young men with family roots in Mohammedan countries.
But the latest case involves a man in his 30s with no immigrant background, the officials said. After converting to Islam in 2008, he quickly became radicalized and traveled to Yemen to receive terror training, one of the officials said. The man spent "some months" in Yemen and is still believed to be there, he said.
The official said the man has no criminal record, which would also make him an ideal recruit for Al Qaeda.
The man has not been accused of a crime in Norway, where traveling abroad to attend terror training camps is not a crime per se.
Continued on Page 47
Posted by: trailing wife ||
06/27/2012 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11139 views]
Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in Arabia
#1
if yall know who he is just keep a real close eye on him. O rjust make him disappear!
Posted by: chris ||
06/27/2012 0:27 Comments ||
Top||
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
When not performed out of medical necessity, circumcisions constitute a 'severe and irreversible interference into physical integrity,' Cologne judges rule
Western intelligence officials have long feared such a scenario - a convert to Islam who is trained in terrorist methods and can blend in easily in Europe and the U.S., traveling without visa restrictions.
