Police appoint controversial mosque infiltrator to fight discrimination
The police appointed the man previously used by municipalities to infiltrate mosques to help tackle racism, discrimination, and exclusion in the police organization. Mosque administrators are stunned. Controle Alt Delete, an organization that fights ethnic profiling and police brutality, broke off its talks with the police over the appointment, AD reports.
It concerns Najip Tuzani, until recently the director of the research agency NTA. Several municipalities hired his agency to send undercover people into mosques and talk to attendees to find out whether they have extremist ideas.
Abdelsadek Maas, chairman of the mosque umbrella organization SIOHR in The Hague, is astounded that the police appointed the former NTA director. The NTA conducted its investigations “in violation of the integrity standards that apply in the sector,” Maas told AD. “They have had a very disruptive effect on the social cohesion that the National Police is trying to promote by appointing a program manager,” he wrote in a letter to the police on behalf of 200 mosques across the country.
According to Maas, the NTA damaged the relationships of trust within Dutch mosques with its infiltration operations. “No believer could rule out that the person praying beside them was an infiltrator. That sowed distrust within mosques, with dire consequences. In this context, the fact that the NTA researchers used their membership fo the Muslim community as a cover to enter the mosques is absolutely shocking,” he said. “While mosque administrators worked constructively with the municipalities through the front door, they were spied on through the back door. In our view, this action raises serious questions about Mr. Tuzani’s ability to contribute to making the police organization safer and more inclusive.”
The police told AD that they chose Tuzani because of his knowledge of the police organization and expertise in the field of diversity and inclusion. Tuzani has “a lot of support from various networks and communities both inside and outside the organization,” a spokesperson said. And he achieved “impressive results” over the past two years while working on a diversity and inclusion program within the Oost-Nederland police. “For us, his integrity is not in question, nor is his suitability for this role,” the police spokesperson said.
For Controle Alt Delete, Tuzani’s appointment was the reason for suspending talks with the police. “The appointment of the new program manager is a worrying development given his role at NTA and the secret investigations,” the organization said. “It is undesirable to appoint the director of a controversial organization against which there is a lot of resistance from the Islamic communities as program manager against racism and discrimination within the police. We suspend all conversations with police officers who fall under his responsibility and management as long as the director of NTA is working as the program manager.”
Adeel Mahmood of the DENK faction in The Hague is also against the appointment. “With the appointment of this person as the discrimination and racism program manager, the police have completely missed the point. Precisely for such an important position, it is essential that the person who holds this position does not have a massive cloud of mistrust above them. We share the concerns of the Islamic community and institutions in The Hague regarding the NTA investigations. This appointment shows that the police do not take these concerns seriously.”
