Kosovo deports self-proclaimed imam, closes mosque

11/03/2010

Self-proclaimed imam Xhemajl (Kastriot) Duka -- an Albanian -- is kicked out of Kosovo based on laws regulating residency for foreigners. Pristina is cracking down on Islamist extremists throughout the republic.

By Linda Karadaku for Southeast European Times in Pristina -- 11/03/10

Deported rogue cleric Xhemajl (Kastriot) Duka. [File]

Kosovo police arrested and deported to Albania a self-proclaimed Muslim holy man last week.

Xhemajl Duka, known by the name Kastriot, had been living in the village of Marina, in the central region of Drenica.

In a press release, the interior ministry said that Duka was deported on March 3rd for violating laws regarding foreign nationals living within the country. That is, the reason he asked to reside in Kosovo differed greatly from what he was actually doing there, according to reports in Bota Sot, a daily newspaper.

The deportation is part of an on-going campaign in Kosovo against Muslim extremists.

The government said Duka received permission to live in Kosovo in order to develop humanitarian activities. Instead, they charge, he was promoting non-religious activities associated with Islamic fundamentalism.

Duka's mosque in Marina -- built in 1999 after the Kosovo war and reportedly a site of extremist ferment -- was temporarily closed by the municipal council of Skenderaj on February 26th.

Duka was using the mosque for activities associated with a British-based charity known as Rahma Mercy. Of the 716 mosques in Kosovo, only the one in Marina was outside the jurisdiction of the Kosovo Islamic Community (BIK).

The mosque was closed after about 6,000 residents of Skenderaj -- most of them Muslim -- signed a petition alleging that it was being used for non-religious activity. Criticism surrounded the intellectual manipulation of orphans at the school connected to the mosque, as well as forcing pre-adolescent girls to wear the full veil and body coverings known as the niqab and abaya.

"It's not by chance that [Duka] chose Marina" to set up his activities, Ajnishahe Halimi, an initiator of the petition who leads a local NGO in Skenderaj, told the Kosovo Daily Express. "There are many families in this place who lost loved ones] during the war. It's easier to manipulate the children. [Duka] was forcing four-year-old girls to put the veil on."

A practicing Muslim, Halimi told Radio Free Europe that the situation in the village under Duka was "alarming", and not in keeping with traditional Islam.

Sabri Bajgora, the chief imam of BIK, welcomed Duka's deportation, noting that all mosques in Kosovo are now under his organisation's authority. When activities resume at the Marina mosque, they will do so under the direction of a BIK-selected imam, Gazmend Hoti.

The mayor of Skenderaj, who also signed the petition, said he could not stand by while residents were abused.

"It was hard to make [Duka] leave because of the hard economic situation here," Sami Lushkaku told the Daily Express. "In this case, mainly, the orphans, the children of the martyrs and the heroes" were victims.