Hungary’s Islamic community calls on court to investigate decree banning burka

Christian Keszthelyi

The Hungarian Islamic Community has asked the Constitutional Court to investigate a local government decree passed in the border town Ásotthalom that bans practices of the Muslim faith there, according to news portal index.hu. The community believes the measure is against the constitution.

Ásotthalom passed a decree banning the public practice of the Muslim faith – such as wearing a burka or building a mosque – as well as behavior that does not conform with the concept that the male-female relationship is the basis of families, according to reports last week.

“The Hungarian Islamic Community has been shocked about rising xenophobia in Hungary, as well as Islamophobia, which has reached its peak with the government decree of Ásotthalom,” the organization says in an announcement, according to index.hu. The portal suggests that the decree is against the Hungary’s Fundamental Law (the constitution).

The ban was proposed by Mayor László Toroczkai of the far-right Jobbik party, who has already gained international notoriety for glossy action-film like videos he posted about defending the Hungarian border, accompanied by what many consider to be anti-immigrant rhetoric.

“Instead of looking for a scapegoat, I rather offer instant solutions against Brussels’ mass settlement plan,” Toroczkai reportedly wrote on his Facebook page after the decree was approved.