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International columnist, political analyst and senior journalist Ahmed Mohiuddin Siddiqui’s articles are published across Asia, Africa and Europe. He writes for The Moroccan Times, The Tunis Times, India Tomorrow, Kohram News, The Etemaad Urdu Daily and for news papers published from Muscat, Sultanate of Oman. You can follow him on Twitter at: @journopolana[/symple_box]
Muscat, Sultanate of Oman—A new wave of Islamophobia is sweeping Germany. This time, it is not the anti-Muslim and anti-immigrant Islamophobe PEGIDA organization but a policeman who has shamed the humanity by force feeding rotten pork off the floor to a Moroccan detainee during police custody, dehumanizing him and making him eat like a dog in the process.
Policemen in many countries are considered to be the most degenerated creatures on earth. Stories of police torture and highhandedness including fake encounters to eliminate people who are not in the good books of the authorities dominate the news headlines almost every day.
Hostile and tyrannical governments use police to silence or eliminate the opponents in a subtle way. But what happened in Germany is a mix of Islamophobia and racism which need to be tackled by the German Government on a priority basis. The height of arrogance of the policeman is apparent because of his unrepentant behavior on 18th May 2015 and his bragging in text messages glorifying the inhuman acts.
A 19-year old Moroccan was detained for travelling on a train without ticket and he allegedly carried a small amount of marijuana. The policeman has bragged about how he assaulted and humiliated the young Moroccan by forcing him to eat minced rotten pork off the floor.
The deliberate act of humiliation is compounded because the policeman knew quite well that eating pork is forbidden for Muslims. This despicable act would not have come to light. A photograph allegedly sent by the policeman to his colleagues, shows a handcuffed man lying on the floor, wincing in pain and apparently restrained by at least two other policemen.
The senseless Islamophobe policeman sent photos and texts via the instant messaging service WhatsApp to his colleagues in the western German city of Hanover. In an earlier incident in 2014, the disgraced policeman had bragged in a text message about hitting, strangling and sticking his fingers up the nose of a 29-year Afghan man whose feet were cuffed. The Afghan was detained for not carrying his identity papers. The policeman termed the sticking his fingers into the Afghan’s nose as funny — It was funny…squealed like a pig.
The Human Rights group Pro Asyl has condemned the alleged incidents involving the policemen. These incidents were first reported by public broadcaster NDR, for their ‘‘appalling level of racism and inhumanity’’ and demanded an investigation into how many ‘accomplices in police uniform’ knew of the violence. Many countries are rocked by wars. In Germany, asylum requests rose 60 per cent to more than 200,000 in 2014. This year, the German government expects the number of asylum seekers to double. Just imagine the fate of the helpless Syrians if they happen to meet the likes of the German policemen.
Whatever be the numbers, the treatment meted out to the Moroccan and the Afghan make many a respectable world citizen tremble. Policemen are supposed to bring the law breakers to book and not break the law with impunity. The German prosecutors are investigating the rotten policeman with his stinking behavior. It is equally important to bring all such guilty policemen to book.
The use of technology should be to benefit mankind to spread the word of peace and development. Technological communicative tools like WhatsApp should not be used to bring ghastly pictures of racism and mindless torture just because the detaineees do not belong to the religion of the policeman in question. Is Germany trying to outdo the Americans in the torture of the detainees?
If policemen do not adhere to discipline, what can be expected of the common man on the street? Whether one is a Moroccan or an Afghan or a German or somebody else, we are human beings first. Human dignity and civility should define our human existence.
Brutality is for the beasts and humaneness for the human beings.
