Yet Another Islamophobe, (sigh)

"[The Muslim School of Montreal was grooming] fundamental activists. [Offering a model of a society] where men are probably going to commit honour crimes against their sisters."
"[The school was institutionalizing] sexual apartheid [and as such was] very far from the values of our [Quebec] society."
Djemila Benhabib, author, feminist, critic of Islamist fundamentalism

Djemila Benhabib says she doesn't regret likening the Muslim Schools of Montreal to militant Islamic training camps in Afghanistan and Pakistan. (Radio-Canada)

"Certainly these remarks are severe and could have been hurtful. However, they have a place in a democratic society like ours."
"Everyone must be allowed to express themselves as freely as possible on these questions."
"[Djemila Benhabib's remarks] are at the heart of freedom of expression's raison d'etre, that is, to favour active participation in debate on subjects of public interest."
Superior court Justice Carole Hallee, Montreal

"I was devastated, appalled, horrified, insulted and worried. How was it possible that someone who had never set foot inside our school could make such damaging and insulting statements?"
Ahmed Khebir, president, Muslim School of Montreal board of directors

The Ecoles Musulmanes de Montreal is suing the secularist author for $95,000 in a defamation lawsuit. © EMMS website

Mr. Khebir chooses to overlook the reality that anyone may now access websites on the Internet to form their own conclusions from the very statements pertaining to the site and purpose such websites advertise of their own initiative. And when Ms. Benhabib found herself provoked with interest after perusing a brochure that the school produces which featured female students wearing hijabs, further investigation on their website informed her that the curriculum was heavy on memorization of Qur'anic passages.

One of which, evidently waxed poetic over the beautiful virgins in Paradise, at the service of male faithful choosing to believe in an afterlife where non-believers are consigned to the fires of hell while the faithful are wooed by nobile beauties. Subsequently, in an interview on a radio program, she made her statements that caused such personal and religious anguish to the school board that it felt justified in bringing a lawsuit against the woman, suing her for $95,000.

Her statements linking the school's curriculum to military camps, he insisted elicited fear within the board that an anti-Muslim backlash from the public was certain to erupt by fanatics who hate Islam. However, the justice hearing the case found logic and truth absent in the credibility of Mr. Khebir's statement of injured protest. The school, she pointed out, presented no evidence of reputational suffering resulting from that interview.

She did find acceptability to Ms. Benhabib's reasonable explanation that when she uttered the statement relating to military camps it was her intention to describe a rigid military mindset, and not reference to camps involved in terrorist training. Furthermore, Justice Hallee stated that there was no support in reality of the contention that enrolment dropped s a result of what the school board considered pernicious slander waged against it.

Her considered judgement was that Ms. Benhabib had not slandered the school or the school's students. She was merely discussing issues of contention in the wearing of the hijab and rote memorization of Qur'anic religious passages. "In this case, the court acknowledges the very important role of freedom of speech and freedom of expression", noted her lawyer, Marc-Andre Nadon.