ZAGREB, Jan 4 (Hina) - The Islamic Community Office in Croatia on Thursday issued a statement saying it had discussed the question of religious freedoms and the status of the Islamic community in Croatia at its regular session held on
January 3.
ZAGREB, Jan 4 (Hina) - The Islamic Community Office in Croatia on
Thursday issued a statement saying it had discussed the question of
religious freedoms and the status of the Islamic community in
Croatia at its regular session held on January 3. #L#
The session stressed that constitutional principles on
religious freedoms in Croatia were 'short and clear, but neither
laws nor regulations on their implementation had been adopted yet'.
Certain problems concerning religious rights and freedoms of
the Islamic community in Croatia appeared occasionally, the
statement said, adding the Islamic Community Office had addressed
several times the State Commission for Relations with Religious
Communities in connection with those problems. 'We realized with
regret and concern that our messages were never answered'.
'Our last address to the State Commission took place on 14
December, 1995, concerning an action taken by the Rijeka police
against members of the Islamic community and believers in Rijeka.
On Friday December 1, 1995, immediately after the central weekly
prayer was finished, members of the Islamic community were stopped
by eight policemen while leaving the building where the prayer had
been held. The police asked each member of the Islamic community to
show their papers and registered them on lists, before the very
eyes of passers-by and gathered citizens who were not members of
the Islamic community. Such a show of power and arrogance
represents a blatant violation of religious freedoms", the
statement said.
(hina) rm mm
041925 MET jan 96