Is this a whitewash? Tariq Ramadan exonerated of hate speech....

I certainly don't trust the Green Party representative...

Last month, the Gay Krant, a newspaper for the homosexual community in the Netherlands, accused Tariq Ramadan of making homophobic and mysogenistic statements on tapes in Arabic destined for immigrant communities in Europe.

Ramadan, 46, a Swiss philosopher and theologist of Egyptian descent, was hired by the city of Rotterdam two years ago to "help lift the multicultural dialogue to a higher level". He dismissed the Gay Krant's accusations as slander.

The city of Rotterdam has since carried out its own investigation, the results of which were presented on Wednesday. The city had 54 Arabic-language cassette tapes translated and examined. According to council executive Rik Grasshof of the Green party GroenLinks, the Gay Krant's reporting was incomplete en inaccurate.

As a result, Ramadan's contract with the city will be extended for another two years, during which time he will lead public debates in an effort to bring the various communities in Rotterdam closer together.

We'll try and find some translations and see how inaccurate initial reports were. I'd also like to know what communities in Rotterdam Ramadan will be bringing together....

But, here is another viewpoint....

The investigation found that Ramadan "has a relatively conservative opinion on the topic of homosexuality," Rotterdam cultural councillor Rik Grashoff told reporters following a public protest at Ramadan's reported statements.

"But he is consistent: homosexuality is hard to accept from the Islamic point of view, but respect for the individual reigns supreme."

What does this mean? That because Islam hates gay people, Ramadan's statements are ok??? Is the Koran the exalted text that makes muslims exempt from hate speech laws. By the way, I am against hate speech laws....but if we have them, they should be used fairly and consistently.