Brussels / Sint-Jans-Molenbeek –
A teacher of the primary school “Aux sources du gai savoir” in Sint-Jans-Molenbeek has been suspended for showing a Mohammed cartoon in class. The suspension and the first hearing of the disciplinary procedure took place on Thursday, Mayor Catherine Moureaux confirms.
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The problem with the cartoon shown in fifth grade is its obscene character, not the fact that it is a religious image. It was a cartoon by the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, “Une étoile est née” (a star is born), with a naked prophet Mohammed on his hands and knees. According to La DH, the teacher gave the children a chance to look away before showing the drawing.
“We think – and this idea is shared by everyone in the college of aldermen – that this obscene drawing should not be shown to ten-year-olds,” said Moureaux. “It’s not the fact that he made the caricatures that is a problem, but it’s the way in which.”
The mayor also emphasizes that she does not get involved in the debate about the blasphemous nature of the caricatures. It would be dramatic to restrict freedom of speech or to ban debates on this issue, she says.
In France, another teacher was stabbed to death earlier this month for showing Mohammed cartoons in class.
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