Norway Prison Allows Imams for Inmates

Friday, February 20, 2015

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CAIRO – A Norwegian prison near Oslo announced plans to bring in imams for Muslim inmates, amid calls for allowing Muslims to practice religion to counter any chances of radicalizing them in prison.

“We are now about to enter into a partnership with an imam who will conduct seminars for Muslims,” Håkon Melvold, governor of Ringerike prison near Oslo, told VG newspaper, Local.no reported on Thursday, February 19.

“In addition, we will create philosophy groups with participation from various faiths.”

The suggestion followed the death of Omar Abdel Hamid El-Hussein, the man who shot dead a Danish filmmaker and a Jewish security guard on Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning.

According to police, it is suspected that he became radicalized while awaiting trial in remand prison some time in 2014.

Rejecting far-right claims that imams were part of the problem, Melvold argued that “presence, participation, and close monitoring” was the best way for Norwegian prisons to uncover sudden radicalization among inmates.

Sharing a similar opinion, Terje Auli, prison chaplain at Oslo prison, said prisons should help Muslims to practice their religion.

“It is obvious that we counteract extremism when we facilitate the practice of religion in prison,” he said.

Norwegian Muslims are estimated at 150,000 out of the country’s 4.5 million population, mostly of Pakistan, Somali, Iraqi and Moroccan backgrounds.

Rejecting Sunday’s attacks, a group of Norwegian Muslim youth will form a human ring around Oslo’s synagogue next week to show solidarity with the Jewish community after Copenhagen and Paris extremist attacks.

Called the “Peace Ring”, the Muslim ring will be formed around Oslo’s synagogue following the Shabat celebration on Saturday, February 21.

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