Al-Shabaab militias warn Dutch Parliament over blasphemy

By ABDULKADIR KHALIF

Binnenhof, Hofvijver and flag of the Netherlands, The Hague (Netherlands) - Markus Bernet

Al-Shabaab plans to strike the Dutch Parliament, after the country’s legislators abolished blasphemy.

Announcing the decision last Friday, Sheikh Fuád Mohamed Khalaf Shongole, the Chief propagandist of the radical Islamist group in Somalia, warned that the consequences of the legislator’s decision will be major.

He was reacting to a recent decision by the Dutch Parliament that insulting God will no longer be a crime in the Netherlands, revoking a decades-old blasphemy law from the statute books.

Nobody can portray the figure of Allah (God),” said Sheikh Shongole through the media supporting his movement. “We are going to respond to such decision.”

But hardliner clergyman did not specify the kind of action the Al-Qaeda linked movement would take.

In 2011, a court in the Netherlands ruled that Dutch right-wing politician Geert Wilders had the right to criticise Islam.

In the past, Al-Shabaab stalwarts issued threats to neighbouring countries that contributed forces to help the Somali Government battle Islamist insurgents.