Swiss say 'No' to minarets, draw criticism

BERNE, Switzerland, Nov. 30 (UPI) -- In a move that sparked international condemnation and reflects a widespread fear of Islam, Swiss citizens on Sunday voted in favor of banning minarets, the prayer towers linked to mosques.

Voters gave the referendum, drafted by the country's far right and opposed by the government, an overwhelming 57 percent backing. It passed in 22 of Switzerland's cantons and thus is due to enter the constitution.

The far-right Swiss People's Party, or SVP, had proposed the referendum to ban minarets in the small Alpine country. The SVP had launched a large campaign linking minarets to women's rights abuses, extremism and a creeping Islamization of the Swiss society.

The Swiss government had criticized the populist campaign, urging voters not to back the referendum. Pre-election polls had indicated the ban would not get a majority, but observers were surprised when the SVP ended up the big winners of the weekend. Swiss Justice Minister Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf said in a statement the vote "reflects fears among the population of Islamic fundamentalist tendencies." While such concerns had to be taken seriously, she said, the Swiss Cabinet did not feel that the minaret ban serves as a "feasible means of countering extremist tendencies." She moreover promised that the referendum would not introduce "a rejection of the Muslim community, religion or culture."

But exactly such is the covert message conveyed by the referendum, observers say.

French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said he was "shocked" by the vote.

"I hope the Swiss will reverse this decision quickly," he told France's RTL radio station.

The Vatican on Monday endorsed a statement by the Conference of Swiss Bishops criticizing the vote for heightening "the problems of cohabitation between religions and cultures."

"My first reaction is one of surprise and disappointment," Babacar Ba, the Geneva ambassador of the Organization of the Islamic Conference, told swissinfo.ch. "It is a bad answer to a bad question. I fear that this kind of thing is simply a gift to extremism and intolerance."

Ali Gomaa, the grand mufti of Egypt and a champion of moderate Islam, said politicians need to try and better integrate immigrant populations.

"We think that priority should be given to meeting the challenge of building societies capable of integrating diversity and difference ... and we are ready to give every support to such an effort," he told swissinfo.ch.

The Vatican backed a statement by the Conference of Swiss Bishops, which blasted the result as increasing "the problems of cohabitation between religions and cultures."

Switzerland is home to around 400,000 Muslims, most of them immigrants from Albania, former Yugoslavia or Turkey. They say their prayers in some 150 mosques and prayer rooms across the country, but only four of them have minarets.

Human-rights organizations have announced they will take legal action against the referendum, which they say violates the Swiss and international basic right to religious freedom.